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The Chinese government have said that China's Postal Savings Bank, a relatively obscure yet powerful entity formed at the beginning of 2007, will be the main infrastructure driver for getting income into rural areas under the country's economic stimulus plan. The bank was formed following a restructuring of the State Post Bureau, and consequently possesses some 37,000 branches nationally thanks to its link with China's postal service. It is now the country's second largest lender in terms of outlets after the Agricultural Bank of China. As the economic credit crunch hits China, the government is keen to spread its economic stimulus plan specifically to rural areas.



The average per capita income in rural areas is about a third of the average in urban areas, and much of the income earned by Chinas “internal” migrant workers is fed back to rural areas. The bank is also engaged with assisting China's credit cooperatives, which themselves are currently being evaluated for suitability for potential microfinance schemes. The World Bank is currently advising on a suitable model for China's rural areas. With its extremely broad reach, the China Postal Savings Bank is likely to play a key role in such initiatives.