BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- China Minsheng Bank saw the balance of its inclusive loans to small businesses exceed 700 billion yuan (98.59 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of September.

Since 2008, when the lender began to focus on financial services for small businesses, it has extended more than 6.7 trillion yuan of loans to small businesses.

The lender will continue to improve the long-term mechanism of financial services for small businesses and improve the quality and efficiency of such financial services, said Zheng Wanchun, president of the bank.

The bank was formally established in Beijing in 1996. It is China's first national joint-stock commercial bank, initiated and founded mainly by non-state-owned enterprises. It was listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2000 and 2009, respectively.

Its total assets amounted to 7.26 trillion yuan, and its net assets were nearly 600 billion yuan at the end of 2022.