Zhejiang’s microfinance has always been playing a leading role in the whole country, and Taizhou has long served as an innovator in Zhejiang’s microfinance. During his visit to Zhejiang in 2019, Vice Premier Liu He pointed out that “a ‘Taizhou model’ has been developed in small and medium-sized banks to serve the real economy, and their useful experience and innovations are worth spreading and promoting”. Taizhou Microfinance Institute (TMI), as a local think tank established by Taizhou Municipal Government and Taizhou University, has long been conducting research on the theorization and promotion of Taizhou microfinance model. In April, China Social Sciences Today, an authoritative newspaper of social science research in China, published a full-page research article on Taizhou’s experience of microfinance development from different perspectives by five TMI researchers, promoting the Taizhou microfinance model to people who are concerned about humanities and social science in China.
Dr. Peng Mingxu and Dr. Chen Shou’s research article, entitled “Taizhou’s Microfinance Model can be Replicated and Promoted”, analyzes Taizhou’s microfinance model and its characteristics in a systematic way and compares the business performance of Taizhou banks with different models, and concludes that the “Taizhou model” is not a regional inevitability but an active choice of local commercial banks. The article, after a horizontal comparison of different ways of applying the “Taizhou model”, fully affirms the replicability of the model. Dr. Long Xin’s article “Taizhou Credit Guarantee Fund: The Escort of Microfinance”, based on the the difficulty and high cost of financing and financing guarantees confronting small and micro businesses, analyzes how Taizhou Credit Guarantee Fund developed into the Taizhou microfinance model from three aspects, namely, dilemma, solution and the new situation. Dr. Shen Hongcheng, in his article “Taizhou Experience: Microfinance Reform Contributes to Common Prosperity”, combining Zhejiang’s high-quality development and construction of common prosperity demonstration zone with the construction of Taizhou’s Microfinance Service Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone, analyzes the groundbreaking innovative experience of Taizhou’s microfinance reform to facilitate common prosperity. Dr. Zhang Xia, in her article “Rural Microfinance Innovations to Promote the Construction of Zhejiang’s Common Prosperity Demonstration Zone”, analyzes institutional innovation and technological digitization through the case study of the “Farm Household Balance Sheet Financing Model”, and proposes that the “Taizhou Experience” is an important part of Zhejiang’s reform practices in financial support.
TMI’s development can be traced back to 2015, when Taizhou Municipal Government established the Zhejiang (Taizhou) Research Institute of Microfinance with the scientific research resources of TU so as to promote the reform of microfinance in Taizhou. After six years of reform and innovation, Taizhou Municipal Government completed the construction of a national microfinance reform pilot zone in 2021. To make the Taizhou microfinance model known to more people and provide Taizhou experience for more areas to develop their microfinance, Taizhou Municipal Government proposed to create a national microfinance reform demonstration zone. In May 2021, Zhejiang (Taizhou) Research Institute of Microfinance was upgraded to Taizhou Microfinance Institute (TMI). In addition to the original functions of research and local think tank, the institute is also responsible for cultivating reserve talents for microfinance, training financial executives, and providing financing counseling for small and micro enterprises. TMI has been committed to the research, education and promotion of the Taizhou microfinance model for a long time, and it has received strong support from Taizhou Municipal Government, Taizhou local city banks, relevant financial institutions and Taizhou University.
