China's first five village banks have opened for business as the government pledges to give farmers easier access to credit loans.

The Huimin village bank in the Yilong County of Sichuan was approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), together with the other four pilot grass-roots lenders in the western Qinghai and northeastern Jilin province, all of which started operating around the Spring Festival.

CBRC lowered the rural banking threshold at the end of 2006.

The registered capital threshold is lowered to three million yuan (US$384,615) for banks in counties and one million yuan in villages and towns.

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2007)