A villager in Yijun county, Shaanxi province, shows a banking card for rural revitalization. (Photo/Xinhua)

China’s financial sector helps revitalize the countryside as the rural revitalization strategy has been implemented with vigor.

The construction of payment infrastructure in rural areas has been accelerated. Chinese financial services giant UnionPay recently launched a card for rural revitalization with financial institutions including the Agricultural Bank of China, the first of its kind in the country.

The card, together with UnionPay’s mobile payment tool Quick Pass, provides additional services for rural residents, including a discount on agricultural production materials and better financial services to suit their needs including loan application, consumption, transfer and mobile payment.

Data shows that UnionPay has carried out comprehensive rural payment trials in 68 counties across the country, increasing 2.1 million Quick Pass users and 690,000 small and micro businesses in rural areas.

By the end of 2018, more than 1,000 rural commercial banks, rural credit cooperatives, and rural banks had been connected to UnionPay’s inter-bank payment network.

With over 6.13 million point of sale (POS) terminals installed at the county level or below, UnionPay’s bank card network has provided services for over 600 million rural residents. In 2018, 2.8 billion POS transactions valued at 14.5 trillion yuan were carried out, up 53 percent and 64 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Financial institutions in the banking sector are also encouraged to support the key fields and weak links in rural areas to help increase loan issuance, build a credit rating system and aid poverty reduction.