New Race Track New Machines Emerge, Risk Control Challenges Await Resolution, Banks Need to Recalibrate the New Standard for "One-Person Company" Services

Stone Shi Yu China Securities Journal

Currently, AI is redefining organizations, and “one-person companies” are quietly emerging. One person, one computer, and a set of AI tools can support a company.

Recently, in response to the operational characteristics of “one-person companies”—light assets, no collateral, high-frequency settlements, and rapid turnover—many banks have innovatively launched exclusive loans for OPC (One Person Company) and provided comprehensive financial service plans.

Industry insiders believe that developing OPC financial services is not only a forward-looking strategy for banks but also an exploration of new growth points. At the same time, traditional risk control strategies and credit requirements are difficult to adapt to the new operational needs of small, high-frequency, light-asset OPCs, and banks’ risk control logic and service models will need to be reshaped.

Breaking Through OPC Financing Bottlenecks and Service Blockages

According to investigations by China Securities Journal, since the beginning of this year, many banks and their branches—including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Bank of Nanjing, Jiangsu Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank—have launched specialized financial services for OPC.

“From application, approval, to the receipt of 2 million yuan in funds, it only took six hours.” Recently, Jiangsu Bank’s Suzhou branch issued its first “OPC SuZhiChuang” special loan, benefiting company founder Mr. Wang of Suzhou Dufeng Technology.

ICBC Suzhou Branch recently issued its first “OPC Talent Loan” to the founding team of a high-performance AI chip company within its jurisdiction. “Talent is the most core asset for tech startups. The ‘OPC Talent Loan’ focuses on core talent, transforming the company’s talent advantage into capital advantage to better serve high-tech companies,” said a relevant person in charge at ICBC Suzhou Branch.

To meet OPC funding needs, Bank of Communications Suzhou Branch launched the “OPC Entrepreneurship Talent Loan,” a pure credit product that requires no collateral, with a credit period of up to three years, plus multiple policy supports such as preferential interest rates and flexible repayment.

Nanjing Bank introduced a specialized “OPC Tongxin Plan,” targeting the characteristics of related companies—light assets and strong innovation—focusing on the core development factors of “human resources + computing power,” and comprehensively addressing financing bottlenecks and service blockages during OPC company growth.

Rural commercial banks are also actively deploying OPC financial services. Changshu Rural Commercial Bank leveraged its “Changyin Microfinance” technology to innovate and launch the “OPC Chuangyi Loan” financial product. By the end of February, the bank had approved five special loans.

Shuyang Rural Commercial Bank developed the “OPC Chuangyi Loan” product. Recently, the bank issued a 200,000 yuan loan to an entrepreneur in the “Shuzhi Workshop” OPC community, precisely addressing funding bottlenecks.

Providing Comprehensive Financial Services

AI is redefining organizations, and as an important carrier of new productive forces, OPC financial comprehensive services have become a key tool for banks to support the real economy and develop tech finance.

“We are continuously expanding the scope of OPC financial services—from basic company services like opening accounts, settlements, and financing, to retail services tailored for AI entrepreneurs such as credit cards, loans, and wealth management, and to various ecological services linked to external resources, such as policy interpretation, technology qualification applications, legal consulting, and activities like the ‘Tech Reception Hall.’ The goal is to meet the most genuine and urgent needs of OPC entrepreneurs from a financial perspective,” said the head of the Technology Finance Department at Pudong Development Bank.

Jiangsu Bank stated that the core logic of its OPC financial service plan is shifting from “making a loan” to “serving a company.” Banks are no longer just providers of funds but are becoming OPC’s digital finance rooms, operational middle platforms, and growth partners.

Zhaolian’s chief economist and deputy director of the Shanghai Financial and Development Laboratory, Dong Ximiao, believes that “one-person companies” often feature light assets and deep vertical integration, capable of keenly capturing niche markets that large enterprises cannot focus on, thereby injecting continuous micro-level vitality into the economic system. This will also help promote stable employment and expand domestic demand.

“One-person companies” could be a large and rapidly growing potential customer group. “Whoever can provide them with basic financial services like account opening, settlement, and credit first will be able to establish long-term relationships with these companies, which may grow into ‘unicorns’ in the future. This is a forward-looking judgment of market trends by banks and an effort to find new business growth points amid insufficient effective financing demand,” said Dong Ximiao.

Risk Control Logic and Service Models Face Reshaping

Industry insiders believe that traditional financial services focus heavily on assets and underutilize data applications. Conventional credit models, which excel at large, low-frequency, collateral-heavy lending, are difficult to meet the needs of small, high-frequency, light-asset OPCs. Banks’ traditional risk control logic and service models will need to be reconstructed.

“‘One-person companies’ rely heavily on the founder’s personal ability, have weaker operational resilience and risk resistance, and may also have issues like mixing public and private assets. Most OPCs are in the startup phase, lacking standardized financial statements, continuous operating cash flows, or even basic operational records. Banks find it difficult to assess their actual business conditions through conventional methods. The traditional risk control system is not sufficiently adaptable, and new multi-dimensional credit models are still under exploration. Post-loan monitoring is also challenging due to the flexible nature of their operations,” said a staff member from a joint-stock bank’s credit approval department.

“Banks must clearly recognize the unique risks of ‘one-person companies’ and establish effective risk control strategies,” said Dong Ximiao. He pointed out that traditional loan approval methods centered on fixed assets and financial statements are almost ineffective for “one-person companies.” Banks should develop a new multi-dimensional credit profile model, transforming soft information such as industry prospects, intellectual property, technical solutions, core algorithms, order contracts, and personal credit into quantifiable credit indicators to accurately evaluate and identify promising “one-person companies.”