The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) released Wednesday a guideline to ease the restrictions on local private capital investments in the country's high-risk rural credit cooperatives (RCCs), in an effort to reduce high credit risks.

According to the guideline, commercial banks, cooperative financial institutions in rural areas, non-banking financial institutions and enterprises with solid financial standing can be potential buyers of RCCs with high-risks.

High-risk RCCs refer to those with a bad-loan ratio of more than 30 percent, which are rated five B, six A and six B on the banking regulator's ratings for accessing risk. There are 212 high-risk RCCs across the nation, accounting for 9 percent of the total, according to the CBRC.

The CBRC said RCCs have long been the weakest sector of the country's financial industry and the new guideline is aiming to dissolve the risks in China's rural credit market and improve the management of high-risk rural credit cooperatives.

RCCs are a state-sanctioned means of providing credit in the rural areas of China.