The Intellectual Property Office of Jiangsu Province (JSIPO), Jiangsu Provincial Department of Commerce, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and Jiangsu Branch of Bank of China (BOC) launched the "Zhihuixing" Trademark Pledge Financing Program on September 8 to help the catering, tourism, and other key industries resume work and production and mitigate financial hardships.

This "Zhihuixing" program, which prioritizes the trade, tourism, and key industries affected by COVID-19, specifically retail, catering, time-honored, and tourism enterprises, is said to boost service model innovation and policy support by fully utilizing BOC's inclusive financing products, such as "Zhihuidai" IP-backed loans and "Zhidaitong" IP pledge financing, organize activities such as enterprise investigations, bank-enterprise linkup, and policy publicity for fast review, approval, registration, and loan issuance, to support small- and micro-sized enterprises in difficulty-ridden industries and help stabilize the employment and economy. The program will last for roughly three months, during which regional IP, commerce, and culture and tourism authorities, as well as BOC branches, will organize more than 20 relevant events. The Jiangsu Branch of BOC will contribute RMB 1 billion in finance, providing IP-backed financing for more than 200 enterprises in key industries.

JSIPO Director Zhi Suping said that, since the beginning of the year, the economy has been under increasing downward pressure with noticeable impacts from unexpected factors, especially in the hospitality, catering, retail, tourism, and other industries closely related to people's livelihood. As a result, relevant market players are now under unprecedented pressure to survive and grow. For enterprises engaged in trade and tourism, a trademark represents the innovation in their products, the quality of their services, as well as their unique culture and strength. As of July this year, Jiangsu reported 2.6142 million valid registered trademarks and 433,800 enterprises with valid registered trademarks. These enterprises are becoming the driver of economic growth in Jiangsu. It is not only a shared concern of IP and financial authorities, but also everyone's responsibility, to fully unleash the value of trademarks and innovate financial products that tap into the intangible value of trademarks to help enterprises navigate difficult times and achieve rapid growth.

Wu Jun, Vice President of BOC Jiangsu Branch, said that to further explore the financial value of IP rights, BOC Jiangsu Branch will take this program as an opportunity to explore innovative models for customer acquisition assessment and services related to trademark pledge financing, investigate the financing needs of more than 1,000 brands and time-honored enterprises in the catering, tourism, and other industries impacted by COVID-19, and introduce the "Zhihuixing" trademark pledge financing plan based on the current IP pledge financing products. This plan will grant micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in key industries a maximum loan of RMB 2 million secured against trademarks and allow collateral amplification. BOC will continue to improve the value, quality, and efficiency of its products to serve MSEs better. Data show that by the end of August this year, BOC Jiangsu Branch has granted 980 MSEs across Jiangsu with IP-backed loans, totaling roughly RMB 12.8 billion.