The city of Shanghai announced, on June 2, that it has set up a guarantee fund for micro, small, and mid-sized enterprises to help them raise money, with an initial amount of 5 billion yuan ($760.8 million), 4.5 billion of that from Shanghai and the Pudong district, and 500 million from local banks.

It explains that the fund is expected to help alleviate small business' difficulties in raising funds by sharing the risk with the banks. The fund also plans to enlarge its amount to 10 billion yuan to better serve those enterprises.

And, to do that, the fund will simplify the guarantee process, double the maximum guarantee amount, from 10 million yuan to 20 million, and cancel the debtor's counter guarantee process.

The same day, a management center for the guarantee fund opened and signed a cooperation agreement with the Shanghai Bank, Pudong Development Bank, and four other commercial banks, along with four guarantee institutions.