Recently, a strategic cooperation agreement was signed between the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region’s Association of Rural Credit Cooperatives and the Inner Mongolia Branch of China UnionPay, which officially launched “Spring Thunder Action” - a plan aiming to improve the coverage of financial services in Inner Mongolia’s rural and pastoral areas and enable the farmers and herdsmen to enjoy equally convenient financial services as urban residents.

It included three objectives in the so-called “Spring Thunder Action”. The plan’s first goal is to guarantee every qualified administrative village in the region has at least one SST (self-service terminal) or ATM (Automatic Teller Machine); and the coverage rate is expected to be more than 50 percent in 2014, reaching one hundred percent in 2015.

It is planned to fill on financial gaps in the counties and townships and to provide regularly counter services for such areas. Based on their cooperation, the plan will provide free IC debit cards for the farmers and herdsmen to undertake all businesses surrounding financial subsidies; meanwhile, cooperation is forthcoming on exploring how to integrate functions such as social security, medical care and credit into the one IC debit card.