More than 400 small banks have exited.

Recently, the Guizhou Regulatory Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission approved the equity change applications of 21 rural financial institutions, including 16 rural commercial banks and 5 rural credit cooperatives. The recipient of the equity is the newly approved Guizhou Rural Commercial Joint Bank Limited. The Guizhou Rural Commercial Joint Bank is the sixth provincial rural credit institution to be approved for operation this year. Since the beginning of this year, the reform of provincial cooperative societies has accelerated. Five provincial rural commercial banks/Rural Commercial Joint Banks in Henan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia, and Jilin have opened this year, and the Xinjiang Rural Commercial Bank has been approved to establish and has already held its founding meeting. Starting from the first province cooperative society reform in Zhejiang in 2022, 13 provincial rural credit institutions have entered the operational phase, accounting for more than half of the total number this year. At the same time, more than 400 small and medium-sized banks, including rural banks, have exited the market. According to interviewees, with the central government's decision to reduce the quantity and improve the quality of small and medium-sized financial institutions, the future will see further consolidation, reforming of risky business models such as absorbing mergers and "village transformation and division", as well as an increasing importance placed on balancing risk resolution and transformational development.