CCTV News: The State Administration for Financial Regulation recently organized a pilot work to moderately relax the loan policy for mergers and acquisitions of technology enterprises, and the heads of relevant departments and bureaus answered reporters' questions on the relevant policies and measures to pilot them.
1. What is the background of the release of the pilot policy for mergers and acquisitions of technology enterprises?
In order to fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, conscientiously implement the requirements of the Central Economic Work Conference, the Central Financial Work Conference, and the National Science and Technology Conference, and do a good job in science and technology finance, the State Administration for Financial Regulation has carried out pilot projects to moderately relax the loan policies for mergers and acquisitions of science and technology enterprises, promote more financial resources to promote scientific and technological innovation, accelerate the construction of a science and technology financial system that is compatible with scientific and technological innovation, and help the development of new quality productivity, high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement, and the construction of a strong country in science and technology.
2. From what aspects should the pilot work be carried out?
The State Administration for Financial Regulation conducts in-depth research on the bottlenecks and pain points of financing for technology enterprises, focuses on the prominent problems reflected by technology enterprises, and pilots to moderately relax some provisions of the "Guidelines for Risk Management of Commercial Bank M&A Loans" (Bank and CNF [2015] No. 5) to support the development of technology enterprises. For "controlled" mergers and acquisitions, the pilot will relax the loans to "not exceed 60%" to "not exceed 80%" and the loan term to "not exceed 7 years" to "not exceed ten years".
3. What is the scope of application of the pilot program for mergers and acquisitions of technology enterprises?
The State Administration for Financial Regulation, based on soliciting opinions from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, has studied and formulated standards for pilot cities, pilot banks and pilot science and technology enterprises. Pilot cities should have concentrated scientific and technological advantages, high R&D investment intensity, active mergers and acquisitions and transactions and equity investment markets, including 18 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei, Jinan, Wuhan, Changsha, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Ningbo, Xiamen, Qingdao, Shenzhen and Suzhou, covering three international science and technology innovation centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and three regional science and technology innovation centers in Wuhan, Chengdu and Chongqing, and Xi'an. Pilot banks should have good operating conditions, complete corporate governance, meet regulatory requirements, and have strong professional service levels for mergers and acquisitions and loans, including large commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks and urban commercial banks. Pilot technology enterprises should have strong scientific research accumulation and innovation capabilities, large demand for technological transformation, broad prospects for transformation of scientific and technological achievements and marketization, and good credit records.
4. How will the pilot work be promoted in the next step?
The State Administration for Financial Regulation will guide relevant financial regulatory bureaus to strengthen organization and coordination to ensure the smooth progress of the pilot work. Urge pilot banks to formulate pilot work rules for technology enterprise mergers and acquisitions loans in accordance with the principles of marketization and rule of law, improve the differentiated credit evaluation system, strengthen the monitoring of the use of loan funds, cultivate a team of science and technology financial talents with background in the technology industry and professional knowledge of enterprise mergers and acquisitions, and provide effective financial support for technology enterprise mergers and acquisitions.
