Despite the tepid performance of China Commercial Credit Inc's shares after the company's debut on Nasdaq, fans and customers in the company's native city in Jiangsu province are hoping that the listing will indirectly benefit the many cash-starved small companies in the region.

The company, founded by Qin Huichun, a former executive of the central bank's local branch, is the first Chinese lender to raise capital in a foreign market. The $8.9 million it raised on Nasdaq is a modest sum. But that doesn't seem to have dampened the enthusiasm of the company's supporters in Wujiang, which was incorporated as a district of Suzhou in 2012.

Wujiang, which used to be one of the fastest-growing townships in the region, is well known as the home of many small and medium-sized textile and garment companies that are struggling to move up the value-added chain by upgrading their products and developing their own designs and branding. As such, most of them are looking to their local lending companies for funding.