The Association for Poverty Alleviation introduced the "poor bank" model of Bangladesh. After 13 years of rural experiment in China, the "poor bank" model in China was explored, which opened another door for poverty alleviation in China. China Road Securities Times reporter Yang Lan Bangladesh's "poor bank" Grameen Bank, founded in Bangladesh by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus, is called "poor bank". Little known is that this "poor bank" model was introduced to China as early as 13 years ago, and it was tried out in China for 13 years. Professor Du Xiaoshan from the Institute of Rural Development of China Academy of Social Sciences said that Yunus's recent visit was like "a gust of wind blowing, which gave a great impetus to the development of microfinance in China". 13 years ago, that is, 1993, the research group of "Micro-credit Poverty Alleviation" chaired by Du Xiaoshan introduced the Grameen Bank model of Bangladesh, and it was carried out in five counties of China. How is it so far? An exclusive interview with Professor Du Xiaoshan by a reporter from Securities Times unveiled the mystery of the experiment of Bangladeshi "poor bank" in rural areas of China. As early as the middle and late 1980s, Du Xiaoshan began to study the field of poverty alleviation. At that time, the current situation of poverty alleviation loans was that they were either used for other purposes at different levels or lent to individual industrial and commercial households that run enterprises, and very few of them actually reached farmers; Second, no matter who the loan is given, it is difficult to recover it. "These are two stubborn diseases, and they are also our most puzzling problems." Du Xiaoshan believes that in addition to whether farmers can borrow money and pay it back, the deeper consideration is whether poverty alleviation institutions can survive for a long time. At an international seminar, Du Xiaoshan found that Grameen Bank in Bangladesh solved their puzzles to varying degrees. In the early 1990s, Du Xiaoshan and others began to publicize it in journals, newspapers and various seminars of China Academy of Social Sciences. "But no one paid attention to this at that time. Many academics thought that their experience, no matter how good, did not apply to us." However, Du Xiaoshan and his research group hope to speak with practice. For this reason, Du Xiaoshan went to Bangladesh for inspection on 1993. Before they went, they set Yixian County, Hebei Province as a testing ground, and their communication with the local government was smooth. At the end of the inspection tour, after exchanging views with Yunus, Du Xiaoshan and them obtained a low-interest loan of $50,000 from Grameen Bank Trust Fund (GT) in Bangladesh. "His idea is' I can lend it to you, but I can't give it to you', and he has the same idea for farmers. This concept is to let farmers establish a sense of development and self-improvement. " 1994, Grameen Bank received $50,000, and Du Xiaoshan received a grant of $50,000 from the Ford Foundation of the United States, totaling $654.38 million+. Next, in order to obtain a relatively legal operating position, Du Xiaoshan asked the yi county Municipal Government to issue a document to allow the Academy of Social Sciences to be an experimental site in yi county; At the same time, a non-profit legal person organization-"poverty alleviation organization" was registered and established in the local civil affairs bureau. Poverty alleviation institutions are recommended by the local government to participate in the work of poverty alleviation institutions full-time, but they are prepared for civil servants and enjoy the treatment of civil servants. The rest of the staff are all recruited from the society and paid by the poverty alleviation society. After Yixian County in Hebei Province, Du Xiaoshan and others successively set up microfinance poverty alleviation pilot projects in Yucheng, Nanzhao, Feng Dan, Laishui and Jintang counties. It is said that the attitude of the State Council Poverty Alleviation Office at the beginning was "verbal support", but there were no words. It was not until199965438+February that the People's Bank of China gave the Academy of Social Sciences an approval document, allowing it to continue the experiment according to the existing model. At the same time, the General Office of the State Council and the Poverty Alleviation Office also expressed their support for the following experiment. Copy the Bangladesh model "Except that this institution is different from the Bangladesh Bank, we copied its model almost intact. The biggest difference is that it operates independently. We must coordinate with the government and accept the guidance of the Academy of Social Sciences. This is a bit semi-official. Of course, we cannot absorb storage. " Du Xiaoshan said. Although it was copied, Du Xiaoshan and others made some corresponding adjustments according to China's national conditions, which they called "Chinese-style microfinance model" (see "Operation Model of Poverty Alleviation Society" for details). Like the Grameen model, the China model also takes women from poor families as its main target customers. Yunus believes that this is because "women's mobility is low, the possibility of default is low, and at the same time, because they live at the bottom of society, they have more determination and perseverance to get their families out of poverty, so they cherish more opportunities for borrowing." Among the borrowers of Grameen Bank, the proportion of women has increased from 50% at first to 96% now. Du Xiaoshan told reporters that in the China model, the proportion of female loans exceeded 85%. In fact, the Grameen model in Bangladesh can be simply summarized as follows: women as the main body, five-person group guarantee, weekly repayment by installments, collection of group funds and compulsory savings as risk funds according to 5% of the loan amount, continuing to borrow and increasing the loan amount after repayment on schedule, and the loan is endless. Du Xiaoshan explained that, in fact, a five-person group joint guarantee can be regarded as a form of guarantee. From 200 1 to 2004, Grameen Bank began the transformation of "Grameen II" mode. "Grameen II" is characterized by adopting a flexible loan mechanism based on the borrower's personal credit. As long as the credit is good, the borrower can increase the loan scale to the upper limit of the loan amount. If the loan cannot be repaid on time, the upper limit of the loan amount will be lowered. In other words, at this time, the role of UNPROFOR team has weakened and the loan period has become more flexible. In August 2004, Du Xiaoshan and his colleagues tried the second model under the guidance of Shajiahan Ali, deputy general manager of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. "The second model includes the first model (full loan with zero repayment) and another loan method (full loan with repayment), which is a loan model with more flexible loan amount, term and repayment method." Du Xiaoshan said. When it comes to the final effect of the operation, Du Xiaoshan disagrees with the exaggeration of some media. He said with the rigorous attitude of scholars: "Generally speaking, it is ok, but it is not entirely optimistic." Among the six counties piloted by the Academy of Social Sciences, the poverty alleviation institutions in Feng Dan, Shaanxi Province were eventually returned to the local government because of "excessive intervention by the local government". When doing Yixian pilot, Du Xiaoshan and others set an interest rate of 8% with reference to the model of Bangladesh. 1996, they set up another pilot project in Fengdan, Shaanxi. After the pilot project was taken over by the government, the interest rate dropped from 8% to 3%. Although the government's starting point is good, it is obviously "confusing the difference between credit and relief, and it is difficult to make up for the long-term deficit of the poverty alleviation society". Finally, the Academy of Social Sciences closed the pilot project in Feng Dan. "Past experience shows that the greater the degree of government intervention, the worse the management effect." Du Xiaoshan said that they later realized that if it is a short-term project, they can still rely on the government, but if it is a long-term operation, they must be decoupled from the government. Now, their four pilot projects such as Yixian, Laishui, Nanzhao and Yucheng in Hebei Province have been decoupled from the government. As for the repayment rate, Du Xiaoshan thinks it is "getting better and better". In Laishui County and Jintang County, the repayment rate can reach 100%, but because some loans that need to be repaid weekly may be delayed by two or three weeks, Du Xiaoshan prefers to say that this figure is 99%. At present, except Yucheng's loss, other points are basically flat or profitable, and the average payment rate is over 90%. It is understood that in Yixian County, Hebei Province, the Poverty Alleviation Society has issued more than 67 million yuan of micro-loans to more than 65,438+900,000 farmers, with women's support rate accounting for 83%. Nearly 6000 poor households in the county have achieved poverty alleviation. According to a statistical data of China Academy of Social Sciences, the poverty alleviation society has invested more than150,000 yuan in loans and issued more than100,000 yuan in loans. At present, there are about 6,543,806 poor households supported by loans, 30,000-40,000 benefiting farmers, covering about 6,543,805 poor people. "Poverty-relief society" is facing transformation. For the poverty alleviation agencies that are divorced from the government and commercial operation, they are not only faced with the legalization of their identity, but also face a serious thirst for funds. After initially raising $654.38 million, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh successively provided some low-interest loans to the Academy of Social Sciences, totaling about 6 million yuan. "Other sources of funds are mainly grants and commissions. "Du Xiaoshan said that the Ford Foundation, the Australian Institute for International Development and Yang Lin, a patriotic businessman from Taiwan Province, gave great support to the project. However, it is obvious that the limited funds can't make the project bigger, which is one of the reasons why the Grameen model has not been bigger since it was operated in China 13 years ago. "There are still problems in the governance structure of poverty alleviation institutions, and the quality of personnel needs to be improved, facing major transformation and adjustment." In Du Xiaoshan's view, these adjustments need financial support, and the Academy of Social Sciences can only lay the foundation first and strive for policies with the central government. Du Xiaoshan has another point of view. He believes that the Grameen model has been tested in China for 13 years, and it has been proved that this model is feasible in China, and it is time for the Academy of Social Sciences to complete its historical mission. "Our Academy of Social Sciences is not an enterprise or a bank. I am not a banker myself. We should find a good way out for our organization. " Du Xiaoshan said that he hopes that the state will introduce policies to turn it into a company or hand it over to a company, or hand it over to a bank or set up a bank according to national policies. He hopes to reform the poverty alleviation institutions in the process of smooth transition, and finally turn them into financial or quasi-financial institutions with sustainable financial development to serve the poor and vulnerable groups. In fact, Du Xiaoshan's attempt has aroused the interest of some people of insight. Although there is still no clear policy, it is clear that they are optimistic about this market. At present, an investment company in Shenzhen has started to contact the Academy of Social Sciences and sent professionals to help the poverty alleviation association improve its management. Mode 1: 1994 The operating mode adopted by the Poverty Alleviation Society since its establishment. Its main features are: 1. Women from poor families are the main target customers. 2. Village-to-village service. All loan applications, training, obtaining loans and repayment are completed in the community (village) where farmers live. 3. Zero repayment of all loans. The maximum loan amount for 1 round is 1000 yuan, and the loan term is 1 year. Lending members need to repay the loan interest and principal in installments (once a week). If you can repay 1 loan on time, you can get a larger amount of follow-up loans. At present, due to financial constraints, the upper limit of the second and subsequent loans is 2000-3000 yuan. 4. Farmers' organization method is to adopt joint group mode, emphasizing mutual cooperation and supervision among members. The typical method of forming a group is: members voluntarily form a group of five people (immediate family members are not allowed to be in the same group), and generally 6-8 small groups form a center to elect the group leader and the center director respectively. Group members should help and supervise each other, play the role of joint insurance, and form their own internal restraint mechanisms. The director of the center and the loan officer convene all members to attend the center meeting every week, mainly to check the project implementation and the use of funds, and to handle the formalities of issuance, return and deposit. 5. Collective funds and compulsory savings: Collective funds and compulsory savings are charged as risk funds according to 5% of the loan amount, and compulsory savings are returned to farmers after they pay off their loans on time. Mode 2: The experiment started in August 2004, and its main characteristics are: 65,438+0. Membership criteria: the net assets of poor farmers' families are not more than 20,000 yuan, and the per capita net income of families in the previous year is below 1.500 yuan, mainly women with income-generating ability. 2. Group funds and compulsory savings: Group funds shall be paid in one lump sum at the loan date of 65,438+0% of the loan amount, and compulsory savings shall be paid at the rate of two thousandths of the loan amount every week. 3. The form of five-household joint guarantee remains unchanged. 4. Loan amount: 2000 yuan for the first phase, 3000 yuan for the second phase and 4000 yuan after the third phase. 5. Loan recovery: determine the amount and time of the loan according to the user's project, nature, cycle and benefit. At present, there are two methods. First, pay off all the loans every week, and all the loans will be paid off within 50 weeks. Second, the full loan is repaid in full, that is, the repayment is made according to the agreement, and the longest period is no more than nine months. The poverty alleviation agency only collects interest and personal savings every week, and the principal will be returned together when it expires, which will be collected by the loan officer at the central meeting every week.