(Yicai) April 26 -- Financial institutions and insurers in Shanghai have been enhancing their services for science and technology innovation companies to help build the city into an international sci-tech innovation hub.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank had 58,000 tech companies as clients as of the end of last year, with a loan balance of over CNY500 billion (USD69 billion), an increase of more than 30 percent from the previous year for the third consecutive year, the lender said at an event yesterday. Among them, 2,000 tech firms were based in Shanghai, with a loan balance of almost CNY100 billion.

SPD Bank offers full-cycle services to innovative tech companies, Yuan Rui, general manager at the finance technology department of SPD Bank, told Yicai.

So far, tech firms’ demand has transformed from simple commercial loans to more diversified services in varied stages of development, Yuan added. Therefore, SPD Bank will go all in to provide diversified financial services, such as those related to fundraising, technical consultancy, and market expansion, she noted. 

China Pacific Property Insurance is gradually improving its service system for sci-tech-related insurance, especially those targeting major links, such as research and development of technologies, transformation of sci-tech achievements, and cybersecurity, to develop its insurance products in a purposeful manner, Tao Lei, the insurer’s assistant to the GM, told Yicai at the same event yesterday. 

Last Year, China Pacific Property Insurance offered more than CNY66 trillion (USD9.1 trillion) worth of technology insurance coverage, served nearly 130,000 customers, and paid compensation of over CNY3.5 billion (USD483 million), the insurer said. 

The Shanghai branch of state-owned lender China Construction Bank launched a series of innovative credit products targeting tech firms in recent years, boosting the growth of its tech-related loan balance, Vice President Zhou Tao said at the event. 

Throughout last year, the balance of CCB Shanghai branch’s tech-related loans soared 180 percent to CNY107.7 billion, with the figure further increasing by 18 percent in the first quarter of this year, the lender noted. 

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione