Rural credit cooperatives are an important part of China's financial system and the main cooperative financial organization form at present. Rural credit cooperatives are cooperative financial institutions composed of members' shares, which implement democratic management and mainly provide financial services for members. Rural credit cooperatives are independent enterprise legal persons, which are responsible for the debts of rural credit cooperatives with all their assets, enjoy civil rights and bear civil liabilities according to law. County Association is an approved economic joint organization, which consists of shares of rural credit cooperatives in the county (city) where it is located, implements democratic management and mainly serves rural credit cooperatives. Rural cooperative banks are local financial institutions in joint-stock cooperative communities composed of farmers, rural industrial and commercial households, enterprise legal persons and other economic organizations within their jurisdiction. It is an enterprise organization form that absorbs the joint-stock management mechanism on the basis of cooperative system.
Main business: The main business of rural credit cooperatives includes traditional deposits, loans and remittances. In recent years, with the sustained and rapid development of China's rural economy, rural credit cooperatives have actively expanded their service areas, innovated service varieties, increased service means and further enhanced their service functions on the basis of serving agriculture, countryside and farmers. In some areas, rural credit cooperatives have provided intermediary services such as agency, guarantee and credit card, and tried to offer new services such as bill discount, foreign exchange trading, telephone banking and online banking, providing better and more convenient financial services for members and customers.
Historical evolution: The practice of modern cooperative finance began in Germany in the middle of19th century. After more than100th years of extensive development in western countries, a modern financial system pattern with commercial finance, policy finance and cooperative finance has gradually formed. In China, the practice of cooperative finance, according to historical records, was the first rural credit cooperative established by "China Huaze Relief General Association" in Xianghe County, Hebei Province on June 1923. 1927 February, China * * * Production Party established the first farmers' association credit cooperative in Huanggang County, Hubei Province. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the cause of credit cooperation has developed greatly.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), marked by historical events or reform measures that have a significant impact on the development of rural credit cooperatives, the development of rural cooperative finance in China can be divided into the following stages:
From the early days of the People's Republic of China to the 1958 Great Leap Forward, rural credit cooperatives in New China were generally established and developed. During this period, in order to lead farmers and rural economy to the socialist road as soon as possible, the central government promoted the cooperative movement in rural areas, and production cooperatives, supply and marketing cooperatives and credit cooperatives all developed rapidly. By the end of 1953, there were 20067 cooperative financial organizations in China.
From the Great Leap Forward of 1958 to the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party of 1978, it was a period of tortuous development of rural credit cooperatives.
From the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee to 1984, it is a period of recovery and development of rural credit cooperatives. The state decided to hand over the credit cooperatives to the Agricultural Bank for management. Under the leadership and management of Agricultural Bank of China, rural credit cooperatives have been restored and developed, but they are getting farther and farther away from the characteristics of cooperative financial organizations. From 1984 to 1996, the State Council proposed that rural credit cooperatives should be decoupled from the Agricultural Bank, which was the initial reform period for credit cooperatives to move towards cooperative system. 1984 the State Council forwarded the report of Agricultural Bank of China on reforming the management system of rural credit cooperatives, and proposed to turn rural credit cooperatives into real cooperative financial organizations and restore their cooperative nature, that is, to restore the organizational mass, democratic management and operational flexibility of credit cooperatives. During this period, the system reform of rural credit cooperatives continued to deepen and various businesses developed rapidly.
-From 1996, the State Council decided to decouple the rural credit cooperatives from the Agricultural Bank of China, and the rural credit cooperatives began to move towards cooperative management. 1In August, 1996, the State Council issued "the State Council's Decision on the Reform of Rural Financial System", emphasizing that the focus of reform is to reform the management system of rural credit cooperatives and turn them into real cooperative financial organizations. With the approval of the State Council, in July, 2000, the People's Bank of China and the People's Government of Jiangsu Province organized the pilot reform of rural credit cooperatives in Jiangsu Province, and made useful explorations in the unification of county (city) legal persons, the pilot of rural commercial banks and provincial-level credit cooperatives. From 1999 to 2000, 65 city-level cooperatives, 6 provincial-level cooperatives and 5 provincial-level credit cooperatives were established on the basis of pilot projects. In the first half of 2003, Zhejiang Yinzhou Rural Cooperative Bank was established on a pilot basis.
-In June 2003, the State Council issued the Notice of the State Council on Printing and Distributing the Pilot Program for Deepening the Reform of Rural Credit Cooperatives. The document pointed out: "Deepening the reform of rural credit cooperatives and improving rural financial services are related to the overall situation of stable and healthy development of rural credit cooperatives, agricultural development, increasing farmers' income and rural stability. People's governments at all levels and relevant departments of the State Council should fully understand the importance and urgency of deepening the pilot reform of rural credit cooperatives from a strategic perspective, adhere to the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and Theory of Three Represents, and accelerate the reform of the management system and property rights system of rural credit cooperatives in accordance with the general requirements of "clarifying the property rights relationship, strengthening the restraint mechanism, enhancing the service function, properly supporting the state, and taking local responsibility". Gradually turn rural credit cooperatives into community-based local financial institutions with farmers, rural industrial and commercial households and various economic organizations as shareholders to serve farmers, agriculture and rural economic development, give full play to the role of rural credit cooperatives as the main force of rural finance and the financial link to contact farmers, better support the adjustment of rural economic structure and promote the coordinated development of urban and rural economies. "On August 18, 2003, the State Council held a forum for responsible comrades of pilot provinces (cities) to deepen the reform of rural credit cooperatives. On the same day, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the People's Bank of China jointly held a pilot meeting on deepening the reform of rural credit cooperatives. The deepening reform of rural credit cooperatives in eight pilot provinces (cities) including Zhejiang, Shandong, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Jilin, Chongqing, Shaanxi and Jiangsu started rapidly.
Reform and development: By the end of June 2003, there were 34,909 rural credit cooperatives in China, including 32,397 rural credit cooperatives, 244 county associations, 65 city (prefecture) associations and 6 provincial associations. There are 628,000 employees. The balance of various deposits was 2,233 billion yuan, accounting for11.5% of the total balance of various deposits of financial institutions; The balance of various loans was 65,438+0,665,438+0,865,438+0 billion yuan, accounting for 65,438+00.8% of the total loan balance of financial institutions. By the end of 1 1, the national rural credit cooperatives had achieved a surplus of 148 billion yuan, of which 17 provinces had achieved a surplus of 3.55 billion yuan. In recent years, the national rural credit cooperatives have further corrected their business direction, improved their service style and increased their credit input to farmers and agriculture, which has played an important role in supporting the development of agriculture, farmers and rural economy. In particular, the promotion of micro-credit loans and joint guarantee loans for farmers has effectively alleviated the problem of farmers' loan difficulties and has been well received by farmers and all walks of life. By the end of June 2003, the balance of agricultural loans of rural credit cooperatives nationwide reached 696.6 billion yuan, accounting for 83.8% of the total agricultural loans of all financial institutions. The ratio of agricultural loans to 1996 increased by 547.9 billion yuan, and the proportion of agricultural loans increased from 23% in 1996 to 43% now, an increase of 20 percentage points. The balance of farmers' agricultural loans was 555.2 billion yuan. Rural credit cooperatives have gradually become the main force of rural finance and the financial link connecting farmers. Rural credit cooperatives have long played an important role in supporting the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and will play an irreplaceable role in the future development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers.