Ezhou Rural Commercial Bank issues the province's first batch of live aquatic product mortgage loans

This article is reproduced from: Ezhou Daily

Reporter Ji Chen　Hong Jian

Our newspaper (reporters Ji Chen, Hong Jian) “In the past, I was stuck worrying about funds while keeping my fishponds; now I can see that live fish can be used for loans.” On April 1, by the fishpond at Qing Shuiwan Aquatic Products Breeding Professional Cooperative in Duandian Town, Huarong District, the person in charge of the cooperative said with a smile that he had just obtained a 500k yuan loan backed by the cooperative’s live fish from the fish he had in the pond.

Just a few days earlier, the Duandian Sub-branch of the Ezhou Rural Commercial Bank successfully issued a 500k yuan live aquatic products pledge loan to this cooperative. This not only marks that Ezhou’s “underwater assets” have been officially awakened, but also represents the first batch in Hubei Province to successfully launch loans using live aquatic products as collateral.

Pain point——

Difficult collateralization of live aquatic products traps both banks and enterprises

The Qing Shuiwan Aquatic Products Breeding Professional Cooperative in Duandian Town is an Ezhou City seed industry demonstration base, and has earned multiple honors such as “Provincial Demonstration Farmer Cooperatives” and “Municipal Key Leading Enterprise in Agricultural Industrialization.” However, even such high-quality operating entities have long faced financing deadlocks.

“Fish in the pond jump, but they’re hard to turn into cash; the bank has no way to make a loan.” — This is the true picture of the aquatic breeding industry. Because live aquatic products “cannot be properly confirmed in ownership,” “are hard to evaluate,” and “are hard to pledge,” they are difficult to use as qualified collateral for financing. Breeders guard fishponds covering thousands of mu, yet are often kept out of loan opportunities due to the lack of collateral; expanding scale and upgrading technology are frequently blocked by the shortage of funds.

Breakthrough——

Clarify “identity” to define “value”

How can the invisible and intangible “underwater inventory” be turned into a credit asset that can be measured? To solve this industry bottleneck, the Ezhou Rural Commercial Bank broke away from traditional credit thinking, proactively coordinated with multiple forces including the Huarong District Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, the Ezhou Rural Property Rights Trading Center, and the People’s Bank of China Ezhou Sub-branch, among others, and innovatively launched a full-process service plan of “ownership confirmation + evaluation + pledge + monitoring,” accurately unblocking the “last mile” of live aquatic pledge financing.

Through the cleanup of rural collective “three funds/assets” (san zi), Huarong District clarified rights and interests in breeding waters, the qualification of breeding entities, and the base number of breeding scale, giving live fish a clear “identity,” and solved the recognition problem of “who the fish belong to and who manages the pond.” This provided the bank with a lawful and compliant basis for lending; meanwhile, the Ezhou Rural Commercial Bank worked with professional evaluation institutions to comprehensively consider key information such as the pond area, breeding varieties, growth cycles, and market conditions, and scientifically confirmed the asset value—giving the live fish tangible “value in dollars and cents.”

Guarantee——

Build a risk closed loop so banks dare to lend and are willing to lend

Not only must loans be obtained, but they must be stable. With support from the Huarong District government, the Ezhou Rural Commercial Bank innovatively introduced an agricultural insurance mechanism covering risks such as natural disasters and epidemics. It also implemented supporting measures including dynamic monitoring via the Internet of Things and third-party supervision, thereby building a risk closed loop of “live-asset pledges + insurance protection + financial support.” This not only addresses the urgent needs of breeders, but also reduces risk for the bank when making loans.

“I really didn’t expect that live fish could also be turned into working capital!” After receiving the loan, the person in charge of the Qing Shuiwan Aquatic Products Breeding Professional Cooperative in Duandian Town said that this money was just enough to cover the costs of stocking the fry, buying feed, and upgrading dissolved oxygen enhancement equipment, clearing the biggest obstacle for the cooperative to expand production by 20% this year.

The successful landing of the first batch of live aquatic products pledge loans across the province is an important practice of the Ezhou Rural Commercial Bank in carrying out the original intention of serving the people through finance and innovating models that support agriculture and benefit farmers. Next, the bank will continue to adhere to the positioning of serving agriculture and small businesses and serving local development, actively participate in revitalizing rural collective “three funds/assets,” and innovate financial service models, so that more idle rural assets can be transformed into “real money” that helps rural revitalization.