The Kunming Private Financial Enterprises Association was founded on Oct 17. Its first general meeting was also held on that day.

The Association was self-organized by the privately-run financial services in Kunming, Yunnan province. It plans to establish an information platform to gather and publish all the needed information for the private financial institutions in the city. Also, entrepreneurs can communicate via the platform and exchange their views on the development direction, management experience, and other practical problems concerning the financial industry.

According to Kunming’s government, the Association can rationally allocate resources with the invisible hand of the market. Through self-supervision and self-discipline, it is expected that it can improve the development environment of privately-run financial enterprises, which have greatly contributed to SME financing in Kunming. By the end of August this year, 37 privately-run financial service enterprises in Kunming had supported 78 SMEs and worked on 85 projects, with total financing of 250 million yuan ($41 million).

By Shi Zihan and edited by Brian Salter