An employee counts banknotes at a bank in Taiyuan, North China's Shanxi Province, on August 2. Photo: VCG

In 2016, Zhang Zelin was engaged in a fierce bidding war over a rental property in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, where he planned to open a branch of his fast-food business.

He had to transfer 50,000 yuan ($7,142) to the property's owner within a few hours to win the bid, or he would lose a golden opportunity to expand his fledgling enterprise.

Zhang was thrilled to discover that he was able to obtain a loan of 100,000 yuan from online bank MYbank due to his good credit rating on Alipay, one of China's leading digital payment apps.

"It took me no more than five minutes to get the loan. After the money was transferred, I immediately called my partner to tell him that the funding issue was solved," Zhang said.

Today, Zhang's business is thriving. He and his partners have opened three Mo+ chain restaurants in Hangzhou selling roujiamo, a traditional Chinese snack often dubbed the "Chinese hamburger." 

They will open another branch in a major department store in Hangzhou later this year.

Zhang was an early beneficiary of the inclusive loans provided by MYbank. Since it was founded in 2015, Alibaba-backed internet bank MYbank has been dedicated to providing financial services for small and micro businesses, as well as online consumers.

Through MYbank's mobile app, small and micro-enterprise owners with good credit ratings can complete loan applications within minutes, and receive their much-needed funds in a matter of seconds. 

The entire process is completed by artificial intelligence and involves no human assistance.

"I think small and micro-business owners are a group of people with promising futures. They deserve our special attention and support," said Yi Hongtao, a business director at MYbank.

According to data provided by MYbank in June this year, over the past three years, the company has assisted over 17 million small and micro-enterprise owners in collaboration with over 400 financial organizations. Owners received an average of 30,000 yuan.

"Using digital technologies such as big data can really make a big difference," said Yi. "It is the internet that makes inclusive finance a real possibility."

WeBank, which is backed by another tech giant, Tencent, has also been working to boost loan support for small businesses. By the end of last year, WeBank had served some 340,000 small and micro businesses, two-thirds of which had no previous loaning records.

In recent years, China's capacity for providing financial services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has seen remarkable improvement, with credit supply constantly increasing, financing costs steadily lowered and financial coverage widening.

By the end of 2018, data from the People's Bank of China showed that nationwide, outstanding inclusive loans to SMEs reached a total of 8 trillion yuan, up 18 percent year-on-year, 8.2 percentage points higher than growth in 2017.

Zhang said that loans from internet banks play a big part in helping businesses grow, especially when they are in their infancy and badly in need of funding.

"Inclusiveness, convenience and swiftness are the main characteristics of inclusive finance," Zhang said.