Cai Tongjuan: How can the high-quality development of inclusive finance benefit ordinary people?

Ask AI · How can inclusive finance achieve a balance between service accessibility and affordability?

Editor’s note: On March 30, Cai Tongjuan, Deputy Director and Researcher at the Renmin University of China Chongyang Financial Research Institute, was interviewed by China Economic Times to interpret inclusive finance. She pointed out that inclusive finance is not simply “poverty alleviation finance,” but a system arrangement that takes both efficiency and fairness into account. Its goal is, on the basis of market mechanisms, to achieve broader financial inclusion. Its future development should not only look at coverage and scale, but also focus more on service quality, risk control, and social value—forming a more robust institutional arrangement between efficiency and fairness. The interview is relayed as follows: (Full text about 2,600 words, expected reading time: 7 minutes)

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee has drawn up a grand blueprint for building a strong financial nation. As an important part of the “five major areas of work” in finance, inclusive finance must actively integrate into the new development paradigm of high-quality development. However, inclusive finance serves a large and wide-ranging set of customers and faces substantial challenges in risk management. How can we make service coverage broader, service quality and performance higher, and better prevent risks?

▲ Original published in China Economic Times, March 30, 2026, Issue 3

01

The core connotation of inclusive finance is inclusiveness

China Economic Times: Since the State Council issued the “Planning for Promoting the Development of Inclusive Finance (2016—2020)” in December 2015, inclusive finance in China has taken root as a national strategy and, at the same time, seen extensive participation by market entities, with credit supply also improving in quality and increasing in volume. How can we accurately understand the core connotation and policy positioning of inclusive finance?

Cai Tongjuan: Inclusive finance refers to a financial service system that provides all social groups (especially micro and small enterprises, low-income populations, rural residents, etc.) with appropriate and effective financial services at affordable costs. Its key is not just “having services,” but “being affordable, usable, and sustainable,” covering diversified functions such as credit, payments, savings, and insurance.

From the perspective of its core connotation, inclusive finance emphasizes three points. First is accessibility: expanding financial coverage through technological and institutional innovation. Second is affordability: reducing financing and service costs and preventing vulnerable groups from being excluded due to high fees. Third is commercial sustainability: requiring financial institutions to provide services over the long term on the premise that risks are controllable, rather than relying on short-term subsidies.

From the perspective of policy positioning, inclusive finance is an important tool for the state to promote common prosperity and high-quality economic development. On the one hand, it supports micro and small enterprises and innovation-driven entrepreneurship by alleviating difficulties in and expensive financing. On the other hand, by sinking financial services, it narrows urban-rural, regional, and income gaps. At the same time, policies usually emphasize both regulation and incentives, such as differentiated supervision, support for re-lending, and the development of digital finance, to guide financial resources to be allocated more fairly and efficiently.

Overall, inclusive finance is not simply “poverty alleviation finance,” but a system arrangement that takes both efficiency and fairness into account. Its goal is, based on market mechanisms, to achieve broader financial inclusion.

02

Enhancing the commercial sustainability of inclusive finance

China Economic Times: To promote the high-quality development of inclusive finance, the state has rolled out policies covering multiple dimensions, including top-level design, special programs for micro and small enterprises, “three rural areas” and rural revitalization, and digital inclusive finance. What are the core original intentions behind the issuance of relevant policies? What economic and social development goals does it hope to serve?

Cai Tongjuan: The core original intention of the state’s promotion of inclusive finance and financial sharing is to enable financial resources to serve the real economy more fairly and more efficiently—especially groups that have been neglected or underserved in the past. In essence, this is a re-positioning of “who finance should serve and how it should serve”: it not only pursues scale and efficiency, but also emphasizes inclusiveness and sustainable development, so that finance can become an important infrastructure for enhancing overall social well-being.

From a problem-oriented perspective, the policies mainly target several pain points of traditional finance. First is information asymmetry: micro and small enterprises and individual business operators lack standardized financial and credit records, making it difficult to obtain loans. Second is high costs and high risk: banks’ customer acquisition and risk control costs are high because their services are fragmented across customers, leading to “difficult and expensive financing.” Third is insufficient coverage: in rural and remote areas, financial outlets are scarce and services are relatively singular. Fourth is structural misallocation: financial resources tend to flow more to large enterprises and entities with sufficient collateral, marginalizing vulnerable groups. Digital technologies (such as big data risk control and mobile payments) and institutional innovation have been introduced precisely to address these constraints.

From the perspective of development objectives, inclusive finance serves multiple levels. At the micro level, it supports the growth of micro and small enterprises and residents’ consumption, enhancing economic vitality. At the meso level, it promotes industrial upgrading and coordinated regional development, fostering urban-rural integration. At the macro level, it helps expand domestic demand, stabilize employment, and provide financial support for “common prosperity.” At the same time, by improving financial accessibility and usage efficiency, it also helps reduce systemic risks and strengthen the resilience of the economic system.

Overall, these kinds of policies are not simply about “conceding benefits.” Instead, through technological and institutional reshaping of the structure of financial supply, they achieve long-term goals of “broader coverage, lower costs, and higher efficiency” under the premise of controlling risks.

03

Between efficiency and fairness

Forming a more robust institutional arrangement

China Economic Times: In September 2023, the “Implementation Opinions of the State Council on Promoting High-Quality Development of Inclusive Finance” proposed that “in the next five years, a high-quality inclusive financial system will basically be established.” For the standardized development of inclusive finance in the future, what prospects and recommendations do you have?

Cai Tongjuan: Looking ahead, inclusive finance needs to move from “expanding coverage” to “improving quality.” While reaching a broader range of people, it should enhance the precision and sustainability of services. The focus should shift from a single credit supply to a comprehensive service system of “credit + payments + insurance + wealth management.” Around the full lifecycle of micro and small enterprises and residents’ multi-layered needs, we should build a more complete financial support network.

On the level of institutions and regulation, differentiated supervision and risk-tiered management should be strengthened. We should encourage financial institutions to innovate, while preventing excessive credit extension and risk spillover. Improve data governance and privacy protection rules, and promote diversified development of credit information systems (such as integrating public data and commercial data). While improving risk control capabilities, we should also uphold the bottom line of information security. In addition, we should optimize incentive mechanisms—such as re-lending, risk compensation, and tax policies—to guide funds to continue flowing into weaker areas.

On the level of technology and models, digitalization will continue to be the key driving force. We should promote deep integration of financial technology with real-world scenarios, such as supply chain finance and rural digital finance, to reduce customer acquisition and risk control costs. However, we must also be wary of a “digital divide.” Through financial education and infrastructure building, we should ensure that older persons and people in remote areas can benefit as well.

In short, the long-term goal of inclusive finance is to achieve a dynamic balance of “availability, affordability, and sustainability.” Future development should not only look at coverage and scale, but should pay more attention to service quality, risk control, and social value—forming a more robust institutional arrangement between efficiency and fairness.