Alibaba creates loan company for Chinese SMEs

China's B2B eCommerce group Alibaba established a small loan company in Zhejiang to lend money to its sourcing and procurement clients.

Alibaba launches small loan company

Alibaba Group which owns several sites such as alibaba.com, taobao.com and alipay.com will offer financial services in order to provide loans up to CNY500,000 to online shop entrepreneurs and SMEs in Zhejiang province.

Many entrepreneurs and SMEs operating on Alibaba Group's platforms face financial problems although their financial needs are small amounts however necessary to grow their business.

Alibaba isn't new in financial services

Alibaba Group has already experience in financial services to SMEs in China.

In June 2007, the group established a partnership with China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to provide loans to SMEs.

Over the past three years, Alibaba and the two banks have jointly provided almost CNY13 billion loans to SMEs.

Alibaba Group's e-retailer Taobao and Yahoo! Japan have recently joined forces to launch a cross-border eCommerce hub.