Light up the road of science and technology finance and help companies add "new kinetic energy" Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has fully served technology companies and achieved remarkable results

Shanghai, on the coast of the East China Sea, is full of vitality for technological innovation and surging entrepreneurial and creative energy.

As a major national strategic task assigned to Shanghai by the Party Central Committee, the construction of the Shanghai International Science and Technology Innovation Center is progressing rapidly and steadily, and this year marks its tenth anniversary. As a local corporate bank, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has never forgotten its original intention of serving the people through finance, upholds the sentiment of serving the country through finance, and actively integrates major national and Shanghai strategies into its own development. From the establishment of the technology-based small and medium-sized enterprise financing center at the head office in 2009 to the establishment of the first technology-specific branch in Shanghai, Zhangjiang Science and Technology Sub-branch, in 2012, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has been providing technological innovation financial services for more than ten years. Guided by "more comprehensive and more advanced scientific research", we will create and upgrade the "Xin Dynamic Energy" science and technology innovation service brand, build the "Xin Ecology" alliance, launch the "five specialties and six dimensions" service empowerment system, fully support the development of Shanghai's innovative entities, and fully cultivate Serve new productivity and contribute Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank’s strength to promote the construction of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2024, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank's loan balance to technology enterprises reached 102.9 billion yuan, and it has served more than 7,000 technology companies in total, ranking among the top peers in the city in terms of scale and number of companies. There are 965 scientific and technological innovation companies in the "Xin Dynamic Energy" library, 102 listed companies in the library, and 96 companies are planned to be listed.

Looking at Shanghai's urban development strategic goals, the word "science and technology" is heavily mentioned: building "five centers" such as the international science and technology innovation center, strengthening the "four major functions" such as "scientific and technological innovation sources", taking scientific and technological innovation as the guide, Accelerate the construction of a modern socialist international metropolis with world influence.

The Central Financial Work Conference held last year proposed that "five major articles" such as science and technology and finance should be done well. In Shanghai, a hot land for innovation and entrepreneurship, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has taken the lead in exploring technology finance. As early as 2009, a technology-based small and medium-sized enterprise financing center was established to start the process of cultivating technology-based enterprises. Three years later, a technology-specific branch was established in Zhangjiang, focusing on providing financial services for “hard technology” industries such as integrated circuits and biomedicine.

Regarding this persistence of taking the lead, Xu Li, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank, said that we must "look beyond finance", keep up with the pulse of the times, actively embrace national strategies, have the "greatest in the country" in mind, and serve with financial vitality To meet the needs of the country, we will promote financial resources to be allocated to innovation fields.

Innovative exploration in the field of science and technology finance is actually a prudent choice for banks to differentiate themselves in competition and achieve high-quality development. Dare to explore areas outside the bank's traditional strengths is an important measure for Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank to break through its own development bottlenecks and achieve transformation and development.

Based on these concepts, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank continues to make efforts in technological innovation finance. In 2018, the bank launched the “Xin Dynamic Energy” strategic emerging customer cultivation plan. In June 2023, the Science and Technology Finance Division of Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank was officially unveiled, becoming the first head office-level science and technology finance division in the Shanghai banking industry and becoming an important engine for the development of science and technology finance across the bank.

By the end of the first quarter of 2024, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has established a total of 12 technology-finance specialty branches and 4 technology-finance specialty teams.

Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank’s continued development has benefited a large number of technology companies. Shanghai ZH Pump Manufacturing Co., Ltd. first became associated with Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank in 2014 and has received financial support from the bank for 10 consecutive years. "It can be said that at every important node of enterprise development, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank's efficient and professional financial services can be felt, helping enterprises to achieve leapfrog development."

As a national-level "specialized, special and innovative" small giant enterprise, YK Precision Mechanical and Electrical Co., Ltd. has entered the fast lane of development with the support of Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank. In 2017, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank became the first credit cooperation bank for enterprises. In just 7 years, the credit scale has increased from the initial 3 million yuan to 91 million yuan, and the company's sales scale has also increased from 180 million yuan in 2018 to over 900 million yuan now.

In traditional thinking, serving technology companies is not the strength of banks. Because technological innovation companies generally lack collateral, and the scientific and technological achievements they are proud of are difficult to evaluate and realize, banks have difficulty balancing returns and risks, and often stand still.

According to Gu Jianzhong, President of Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank, the key to solving the credit problem of science and technology innovation enterprises and truly solving the problem of science and technology finance is to learn to look at technology companies from the perspective of science and technology, learn from "venture capital-type" credit thinking, and reshape risks Evaluation logic and risk-benefit balance logic.

Under the guidance of this concept, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has changed from the traditional business thinking of looking at mortgages, cash flow, and the past to an innovative development perspective of looking at technology, teams, and the future, focusing on the availability of equity investment in enterprises, Multiple factors such as R&D capabilities, business models, technological advantages, and team capabilities focus on corporate growth and sustainable operating capabilities, and provide corresponding financial services.

The perspective and way of looking at the world determines subsequent actions and actions. When looking at a company, the vision is not short-term and shallow, but with innovative and strategic thinking. It is not simply a return on a single loan to measure the value of cooperation with the company, but more emphasis on using multiple dimensions to re-evaluate the business portfolio. If the overall income is high, banks will comprehensively consider the huge space for cooperation brought by the future growth of technological innovation enterprises, and thus take firm steps.

In order to do this "difficult but right thing", Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has established a professional management team and research team, and established 10 strategies covering the head office, branches, branches, front, middle and back offices for high-end manufacturing, biomedicine, artificial intelligence and other fields. The emerging industry part-time research team also actively cultivates a high-quality technology and finance specialized service team that is proficient in the bank's innovative service products and solutions, introduces value investment concepts, breaks through the shackles of banks' traditional credit concepts, strengthens dynamic risk management, and improves professional operations. Ability to solve the difficulties of technology companies having no collateral and difficulty in identifying technology companies.

Shanghai ZZ Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. is a start-up innovative pharmaceutical company specializing in the research and development of small molecule targeted drugs for mental diseases. The company founders considered equity investment but never imagined obtaining credit financing from a bank. The company's advantage lies in source innovation, promoting the research and development of Class 1.1 new drugs. The products are original, have completely independent intellectual property rights, and have good social benefits and commercialization prospects. However, the company also faces risks and challenges. The fastest-growing R&D pipeline is still in the clinical phase I stage, and other pipelines are still in the pre-clinical stage. There are risks in the future R&D path and there are also operational uncertainties.

Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank fully investigated the company and, based on in-depth research on the industry, believed that the founder team of ZZ Pharmaceuticals has an excellent background, strong R&D capabilities, and is in a track with good development prospects, and created special financial services for them. The plan provides the company with the first credit loan support of 10 million yuan, and combines the investment banking service system to recommend high-quality biopharmaceutical industry investment institutions to the company to assist it in subsequent equity financing.

In order to maintain steady and long-term development in the field of science and technology innovation finance, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has established an organizational structure system suitable for science and technology innovation finance - "1113N": from top to bottom, it has established an investment banking department in the head office, the first science and technology finance division in the city. Then it plans to open 13 special branches for science and technology and finance, spread across the city's science and technology finance carrying areas, and finally expand to N first-level branches that are more concentrated. Within three years, a full-time, professional, and professional team of about 300 people will be formed. Dedicated and dedicated scientific and technological financial services team.

For example, compared with the "standard personnel allocation" of ordinary branches, Zhangjiang Science and Technology Sub-branch has a higher proportion of professional talents. Starting from 2019, the number of employees in the branch has increased from less than 40 to more than 80, more than 30% of whom are non-financial professionals such as physics, chemistry, medicine, etc. They give full play to their professional expertise and stay close to the science and technology innovation industry, so that the branch's science and technology innovation financial services can better meet the needs. Banks also equip these professionals with appropriate evaluation and salary systems to stimulate their potential.

In terms of institutional mechanisms, 12 branches with special features of science and technology finance have been opened in the city. By implementing the business policy of "market-oriented operation, line management, professional operation, differentiated assessment, and innovative development", differentiated performance assessment is promoted , implement the due diligence exemption mechanism, allocate full-time approval personnel, optimize credit approval authority, and create a good atmosphere of "dare to lend, willing to lend, and able to lend".

The key to career development lies in people. Structural changes in personnel, changes in employees’ attitude toward science and technology innovation, and changes in employee assessment and incentive methods have driven changes in the entire bank, allowing Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank to show different characteristics of science and technology innovation.

Enterprises are the main body of innovation and the main force in the construction of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center. Shanghai has gathered more than 24,000 high-tech enterprises and more than 80 high-end scientific research platforms. To promote the construction of Shanghai International Science and Technology Innovation Center, we must build strong innovation entities, strengthen innovation breakthroughs, and promote the transformation of results. Among them, supporting the development of innovative entities is inseparable from the power of finance.

For more than ten years, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has continued to establish and improve financial service products to serve scientific and technological enterprises. The launch of the "Xin Dynamic Energy" strategic emerging customer cultivation plan in 2018 marked the transition of its science and technology finance from a single credit product to a new development period of comprehensive and comprehensive services. Afterwards, it was upgraded twice, from the "One Xin, Two Specialties and Three Supports" in the "1.0" period to the "One Xin, Four Wings" service system in the "2.0" period, and then to the upgraded version 3.0 of the "Xin Dynamic Energy" strategic emerging customer cultivation plan in 2023. , is committed to becoming a partner bank for science and technology innovation enterprises through an ecosystem model, and is striving to build the "Xin Dynamic Energy" science and technology innovation service brand.

SD Medical is a hard-core technology company with high-end medical device "magnetic wave knife" non-invasive treatment surgery as its core business. The company's R&D team works hard day after day, hoping to replace imported technologies and fill the gaps in the domestic market. However, key technology research and development is not a smooth road. Entrepreneurial teams face huge challenges and risks and need to find the right direction, persevere, and invest intensively. In addition to scientific research, the team also has many worries. For example, they are in urgent need of funds, but debt financing is difficult and financing costs are high during the research and development stage. They often have to dilute the equity ratio to obtain valuable financing.

Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank provides enterprises with different options. Through close communication and in-depth understanding, the bank team provided the company with the "Xin Dynamic Energy R&D Loan" product. It is specially designed for the "Xin Dynamic Energy" strategic emerging customers to cultivate technological enterprises that are still in the research and development stage. It is designed to solve the financing pain points, difficulties and blocking points such as large investment in the early research and development stage, long term, and unsecured assets. It has "innovation" It has features such as "points model", "quasi-credit model", "medium- and long-term loans", "dynamic interest rate model" and "wide range of loan uses", focusing on supporting the "9X" strategic emerging three leading industries.

In the end, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank granted the company a 50 million yuan "Xin Dynamic R&D Loan" loan line, which won the company's high trust and inspired the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of the R&D team.

The 3.0 version of "Xin Dynamic Energy" has a special feature. It further highlights the integration of investment and commercial banks, selects a group of "seed companies", cultivates and nurtures more early and mid-term science and technology innovation companies, focuses on the integration of science and technology innovation ecosystems, and builds a technology-based innovation The "Xin Ecosystem", a cooperation ecosystem with enterprises as the core, is tailored to the different needs of scientific and technological enterprises in the five growth stages of "silver seeds", "gold seeds", "Xin seeds", "to-be-listed" and "mature", and provides "five specialties". "Serving Six Dimensions of Empowerment" and striving to become a partner bank for technological innovation enterprises.

Specifically, the "five specialized services" refer to the provision of special approval mechanisms, exclusive financial products, professional service teams, special service plans, and exclusive rights and interests systems for "Xin Dynamic Energy" customers.

"Six-dimensional empowerment" is to build a "Xin Ecology" customer cooperation ecosystem and establish a "1N" platform service model in conjunction with external institutions such as exchanges, investment institutions, securities companies, and consulting firms, allowing banks to integrate industrial resources and policy resources. The six dimensions of docking, investment institution introduction, professional coaching and consulting, talent management services, and financial technology empowerment provide full-cycle, multi-level, differentiated empowerment and value-added services to "Xin Dynamic Energy" customers.

Those who do not seek change will succeed; those who do not seek refuge in things will advance. Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has created a "Xin Dynamic Energy" product, created a "Xin Ecology", and built a comprehensive service system of "Five Specialized Services and Six Dimensions of Empowerment" to directly address the pain points of serving scientific and technological innovation enterprises and build a complete set of scientific and technological financial service systems.

In the process of building Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center, accelerating the transformation of scientific and technological achievements is a major proposition. The birth of scientific and technological achievements is from 0 to 1. However, moving from a laboratory to a mature product is a process from 1 to 10 or even 100, involving issues such as platforms, funds, carriers, services, etc. There is an urgent need for capital investment early, small, and hard technology, and banks need to take proactive actions. .

What the country needs is what the bank strives for. Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has released the "Three-Year Action Plan for the Development of Science and Technology Finance". A specific direction is to adhere to the concept of "improvement, advancement, innovation and collaboration", focusing on the "stock-bond linkage" method as a breakthrough, and strive to achieve "towards Go early, go small, go hard”.

Specifically when it comes to serving science and technology innovation enterprises, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank knows very well that in order to do a good job in science and technology innovation finance, it cannot rely solely on one bank, but must leverage the power of all parties and rely on the entire ecosystem to carry out mutual empowerment and collaboration to improve financial services. Quality and efficiency of service.

To this end, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has taken a multi-pronged approach. On the one hand, it carries out comprehensive cooperation with investment institutions in basic fund services, project investment services, and empowerment of invested companies. The bank launched the "Xinliandai" product plan on a pilot basis last year, leveraging the professional perspectives of PE and VC on high-quality scientific and technological innovation companies, and leveraging government guidance funds, industrial investment funds and other forces to focus on the development needs of strategic emerging industries. Extend the reach of financial services to all aspects of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, open up financial services across the entire industrial chain, and help technological innovation companies unleash their innovation power.

On the other hand, we will strengthen cooperation with technology business incubators and target the financial needs of technology innovation companies. Starting in 2023, the bank will set up a number of "Xin incubation" bases around the 36 industry sectors to provide batch services to early-stage science and technology companies that meet the requirements of both parties.

Customers often have the most say in the effectiveness of bank services.

There are many subdivisions in the biopharmaceutical industry, and there are a large number of unmet clinical needs in terms of drugs for autoimmune diseases. Shanghai LY Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. is an innovative pharmaceutical company engaged in the research and development of drugs for autoimmune diseases, and its research and development pipeline is in the clinical trial stage. However, in recent years, the company's equity financing has been slow, and drug clinical trials have been forced to slow down due to insufficient funds.

After being recommended by the incubator where the company is located, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank conducted an in-depth investigation of the company and decided to provide a special service plan of "Xinhatai" that specifically serves early-stage science and technology enterprises. Relying on the special approval channel for incubator business, combined with the exclusive evaluation model of incubator projects, We quickly provided the company with the first medium- and long-term working capital loan of RMB 3 million, which initially met the capital gap before the company's equity financing was in place, enabled the clinical trials of relevant drugs to proceed as planned, and solved the company's urgent needs.

From 2023 to now, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has reached strategic cooperation with 9 high-quality incubators in Shanghai to promote the construction of "Xin Incubation" bases for science and technology innovation and create a "Xin Incubation" ecosystem dedicated to cultivating early-stage science and technology innovation enterprises, including a number of Shanghai high-quality incubator and national-level technology business incubator. Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has established more than 100 incubators, attracted more than 400 customers, and served about 150 incubated companies. It has adopted a relay cultivation model, from scientific and technological achievement transformation projects to incubated companies, providing them with entrepreneurial carrier recommendations and investment Comprehensive enabling services such as institutional introduction and industrial resource integration continue to incubate and cultivate high-quality enterprises that lead new productivity.

The great rivers surge and hundreds of rivers flow into the sea. Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank will adhere to its professional first positioning, adhere to the path of value creation, invest with full enthusiasm in the wave of technological innovation and industrial innovation, and continue to use the "Xin Dynamic Energy" scientific and technological innovation financial service brand as a starting point to further deepen the field of scientific and technological innovation finance. , continue to enrich financial service means, improve the quality and efficiency of financial services, strive to bring more financing and intelligence support to technology-based enterprises, and use practical actions to inject financial momentum into the cultivation and development of new productive forces.