New track innovations emerge, risk control challenges remain to be solved. Banks need to recalibrate the new standards for "one-person company" services.

Shi Shiyu, China Securities Journal

Currently, AI is redefining organizations, and “one-person companies” are quietly emerging. One person, one computer, and a set of AI tools can support an entire company.

Recently, in response to the operational characteristics of “one-person companies”—light assets, no collateral, high-frequency settlements, and rapid turnover—many banks have innovatively launched dedicated loans for OPC (One Person Company) and provided comprehensive financial service plans.

Industry insiders believe that developing OPC financial services is not only a forward-looking strategy for banks but also an exploration of new growth points. At the same time, traditional risk control strategies and credit requirements are difficult to adapt to the new operational needs of small, high-frequency, light-asset OPCs, and banks’ risk control logic and service models will face restructuring.

Breaking Through Financing Bottlenecks and Service Blockages for OPCs

According to investigations by China Securities Journal, since the beginning of this year, many banks and their branches—including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Bank of Nanjing, Jiangsu Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank—have launched specialized financial services for OPCs.

“From application, assessment, to the arrival of 2 million yuan in funds, it only took six hours,” said Mr. Wang, founder of Suzhou Dufeng Technology, after the first “OPC Su Zhi Chuang” special loan was approved by Jiangsu Bank’s Suzhou branch recently.

Recently, ICBC Suzhou Branch issued its first “OPC Talent Loan” to the founding team of a high-performance AI chip company within its jurisdiction. “Talent is the most core asset for tech startups. The ‘OPC Talent Loan’ focuses on core talent, transforming the company’s human resources advantage into capital advantage, better serving hardcore tech companies,” said a relevant person in charge at ICBC Suzhou Branch.

To meet OPC funding needs, Bank of Communications Suzhou Branch launched the “OPC Entrepreneurship Talent Loan,” a pure credit product that requires no collateral, with a credit term of up to three years, plus multiple policy supports such as preferential interest rates and flexible repayment.

Nanjing Bank introduced a special “OPC Tongxin Plan,” targeting the characteristics of related companies—light assets and strong innovation—focusing on the core development factors of “human resources + computing power,” and comprehensively addressing financing bottlenecks and service blockages during OPC growth.

Rural commercial banks are also actively deploying OPC financial services. Changshu Rural Commercial Bank leverages its “Changyin Microfinance” technology advantage to innovate and launch the “OPC Chuangyi Loan” financial product. By the end of February, the bank had approved five special loans.

Shuyang Rural Commercial Bank developed the “OPC Chuangyi Loan” product. Recently, the bank issued a 200,000 yuan loan to an entrepreneur in the “Shuzhi Workshop” OPC community, precisely alleviating funding bottlenecks.

Providing Comprehensive Financial Services

AI is redefining organizations, and as an important carrier of new productive forces, OPC financial comprehensive services have become a key tool for banks to support the real economy and develop technology finance.

“We are continuously expanding the scope of OPC financial services—from basic company services like opening accounts, settlements, and financing, to retail services tailored for AI entrepreneurs such as credit cards, loans, and wealth management, and to various ecological services linked to external resources, such as policy interpretation, technology qualification applications, legal consulting, and activities like the ‘Science and Technology Reception Room.’ The goal is to meet the most genuine and urgent needs of OPC entrepreneurs from a financial perspective,” said the head of the Technology Finance Department at Pudong Development Bank.

Jiangsu Bank stated that the core logic of its OPC financial service plan is shifting from “making a loan” to “serving a company.” Banks are no longer just providers of funds but are becoming OPC’s digital finance rooms, operational middle platforms, and growth partners.

Dong Ximiao, Chief Economist at Zhaolian and Deputy Director of Shanghai Financial and Development Laboratory, believes that “one-person companies” often have characteristics of light assets and deep vertical specialization, enabling them to keenly capture niche markets that large enterprises cannot focus on, thereby injecting continuous micro vitality into the economic system. This will also help promote stable employment and expand domestic demand.

“‘One-person companies’ could be a large and rapidly growing potential customer group. Whoever can provide them with basic financial services such as account opening, settlement, and credit will be able to establish long-term relationships with these companies, which may grow into ‘unicorns’ in the future. This is a forward-looking judgment of market trends by banks and an effort to find new growth points amid insufficient effective financing demand,” said Dong Ximiao.

Risk Control Logic and Service Models Face Restructuring

Industry insiders believe that traditional financial services focus heavily on assets and data application, excelling in large, low-frequency, heavily collateralized credit models, which are difficult to adapt to the new operational needs of small, high-frequency, light-asset OPCs. The traditional risk control logic and service models of banks will face restructuring.

“‘One-person companies’ rely heavily on the founder’s personal ability, with weaker operational resilience and risk resistance, and may also have issues like mixing public and private assets. Most OPCs are in the startup stage, lacking standardized financial statements, continuous operating cash flows, or even basic operational records. Banks find it difficult to assess their actual business conditions through conventional methods. The traditional risk control system is not sufficiently adaptable, and new multi-dimensional credit models are still under exploration. Post-loan monitoring is also challenging due to the flexible nature of their operations,” said a staff member from a joint-stock bank’s credit approval department.

“Banks must clearly recognize the unique risks of ‘one-person companies’ and establish effective risk control strategies,” Dong Ximiao emphasized. He pointed out that the traditional loan approval methods centered on fixed assets and financial statements are almost invalid for ‘one-person companies.’ Banks should develop a new multi-dimensional credit profile model, transforming “soft information” such as industry prospects, intellectual property, technical solutions, core algorithms, order contracts, and personal credit into quantifiable credit indicators for scientific evaluation and precise identification of promising ‘one-person companies.’