国际英语新闻：Agricultural Bank of China's micro-credit loan program in rural areas expands rapidly

Given there are 720 million residents in rural China, the beneficiaries of the loans merely account for two percent of the country's rural population, Zhao added.

Up until now, almost 3,000 rural townships in China - around nine percent of the country's total - have not had a banking branch, said Tang Renjian, deputy director of the Central Finance Leading Group office.

The development of China's rural areas has been hampered by the areas' inadequate access to finance, Tang said.

"It is ABC's responsibility to finance China's rural development. The bank has a good branch network in the countryside," said Lu Chuan.

"By experimenting with new ways to get credit to the countryside, I believe ABC can develop its rural business rapidly in the future, given the next driver of the Chinese economy is urbanization," Lu added.

Beijing-based ABC launched its IPO at the Shanghai bourse Thursday and on the Hong Kong bourse Friday. It was the last of China's "big four" state-owned banks to float its shares.

The three other big state-owned banks - the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of China - are already listed on both the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges.

ABC had 8.89 trillion yuan in assets by 2009, accounting for 11.3 percent of the total assets of China's banking industry, according to ABC's IPO prospectus.

The bank reported a net profit of 65 billion yuan last year, up 26.3 percent from the 2008 level.