Three departments jointly issued a notice to increase financial support in key consumption areas
Recently, the Ministry of Commerce, the People's Bank of China, and the National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly issued the "Notice on Strengthening Coordination between Commerce and Finance to Boost Consumption with Greater Vigor" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), proposing measures from different aspects to increase financial support in key consumption areas.
Assist in boosting consumption
In recent years, multiple departments have implemented targeted measures to boost consumption, promoting the deep integration of improving people's livelihood and stimulating consumption. Banking institutions have taken the special action of "Boosting Consumption and Expanding Domestic Demand, Consumer Finance in Action" as a starting point, achieving deep integration and comprehensive upgrading of the entire chain of "credit + scenario + payment + derivative services". They aim to promote the all-round expansion of domestic demand through high-quality consumer financial services, "fueling" the consumer market from multiple dimensions.
In terms of upgrading commodity consumption, the "Notice" proposes to promote cooperation between financial institutions and platforms, as well as key merchants, to enter supermarkets and shopping malls, and improve product service models such as installment payment, credit cards, mobile banking, and digital yuan, to better meet consumers' demand for upgrading to new products.
Ouyang Rihui, Vice President of the China Internet Economy Research Institute at Central University of Finance and Economics, stated that consumer finance has promoted the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure by supporting large-scale equipment updates and trade-ins of consumer goods, thus achieving the long-term goals of policies. The "Notice" proposes to promote cooperation between financial institutions, platforms, and key merchants, entering supermarkets and shopping malls. Consumer finance has become an important financial force to boost consumption, and its continuous growth in business scale provides a stable source of funds for industrial upgrading. At the same time, consumer finance guides consumers to choose high-quality, high-performance products, forming a market incentive mechanism for high-quality supply.
Large state-owned banks actively support the "trade-in" of consumer goods. For example, China Construction Bank closely follows the expansion and implementation of the "two new" policies, optimizes automotive financial services, extends the consumption service chain such as car washing and refueling, strengthens cooperation with merchant platforms, and promotes the consumption upgrade of home appliances and 3C products. The relevant person in charge of the Housing Finance and Personal Credit Department of China Construction Bank stated that by deeply cultivating financial services, optimizing consumer loan products, supporting consumption in the home decoration field, and serving customers' comprehensive consumption needs such as post-purchase decoration and smart home selection.
Innovative scenario application
In terms of innovating diversified consumption scenarios, the "Notice" proposes to explore and develop exclusive loan products in combination with the quality improvement and efficiency enhancement of county-level commerce and the high-quality development of rural e-commerce. It aims to promote inbound consumption and continuously enhance the payment convenience for inbound personnel. Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher at Suxi Zhiyan, pointed out that the precise matching of consumer finance with consumption scenarios helps promote the efficient implementation of policies. Promoting consumption has become an important engine of economic growth. Improving financial products and services supporting consumption can drive economic growth across various industries by expanding domestic demand. Currently, consumer finance has been embedded into diverse scenarios such as shopping, cultural tourism, home appliances, and home decoration, which not only facilitates convenient use for consumers in the scenario side but also helps merchants further open up the consumption market.
To foster a convenient payment environment, banks have assisted Shanghai LEGO Land Resort in comprehensively promoting the use of digital yuan, building upon the widespread adoption of mobile payments and domestic and overseas bank card swipe payments. Together, they have created a typical application scenario for digital yuan in large theme parks. Starting from August 1, 2025, a limited number of Shanghai LEGO Land-themed digital yuan hard wallets will be issued, incorporating LEGO Land's distinctive elements into the card design to showcase both Shanghai LEGO Land and Shanghai's unique characteristics. Visitors can complete convenient consumer payments by simply "tapping" their digital yuan hard wallet on the merchant payment terminals at Shanghai LEGO Land.
In terms of cultivating new consumption formats, the "Notice" proposes to promote the development of new consumption according to local conditions, and actively explore effective measures for financial support for new consumption formats and models such as initial public offering economy, green consumption, healthy consumption, digital consumption, "AI+ consumption", and "IP+ consumption" in accordance with the principles of controllable risks and sustainable business, providing more diverse and differentiated financial services.
Strengthen the docking between supply and demand
The relevant person in charge of the Finance Department of the Ministry of Commerce stated that financial institutions are encouraged to focus on key areas such as upgrading commodity consumption, innovating diversified consumption scenarios, and cultivating new types of consumption. They should optimize financial product services, promote stronger docking between supply and demand, improve the adaptability to commodity and service consumption, promote the development of new types of consumption according to local conditions, and support the construction of new formats, models, and scenarios of consumption.
Next, to boost consumption through finance, it is necessary to implement and refine financial support measures from the perspectives of financial product design and user needs, enhancing the adaptability and convenience of financial services. Ouyang Rihui stated that from the perspective of financial product innovation, it is imperative to promote the transition of consumer credit services from standardization to scenario-based and personalized approaches. Traditional "one-size-fits-all" loan products have become difficult to meet diverse consumer demands. The current effective approach is to precisely customize around specific consumption scenarios and specific customer groups, accompanied by flexible repayment methods such as "monthly interest payment and principal repayment upon maturity", accurately matching the needs of consumption upgrading.
In addition, from the perspective of policy coordination, it is necessary for commercial, financial, and industrial policies to form a synergistic force and exert a multi-level promoting effect. A healthy consumer finance market requires various entities such as banks, consumer finance companies, and auto finance companies to complement each other's advantages and engage in differentiated competition, reduce users' financing costs, and promote residents' ability and willingness to consume. (Reporter: Wang Baohui)