By IANS,
Beijing : Banking services were absent in a total of 1,696 remote Chinese towns at the end of 2011, according to government data.
The data issued by the China Banking Regulatory Commission Wednesday said that many of these towns, usually sparsely populated, have never seen the presence of a banking outlet due to their remote nature, Xinhua reported.
In October 2009, the commission had initiated a nationwide programme asking banking institutions to expanded services to remote towns by opening regular business outlets or by setting up self-service machines.
By the end of last year, a total of 1,249 remote towns had benefited since the programme was launched, the commission said in a statement.
“It often takes a whole day for farmers to walk through mountains and cross rivers to get subsidies for growing grain,” the statement said, describing the inconveniences that exist for local villagers due to a lack of banking services.