Citigroup starts rural lending push in central China

Citigroup said it is beginning a drive to develop small-scale lending businesses to serve rural areas in China, the Wall Street Journal reported. The US bank announced that it had been approved by the mainland banking regulator to open two loan businesses in Hubei province. The two new businesses, Hubei Jingzhou Gong’an Citi Lending Co and Hubei Xianning Chibi Citi Lending Co, will offer secured and unsecured credit but will not take deposits like other banks. China has loosened rules on foreign banks’ operations in the country’s poorer regions as part of a strategy to promote income growth in interior provinces.