B2B marketplace Alibaba.com and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement under which they will work together to provide business loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to build a joint online platform offering services such as online financing, online payments and financial consulting.

ICBC will offer business loans to selected users of Alibaba’s marketplace based on their e-commerce track record and online trust rating. The scheme will be of particular help to Chinese SMEs that need financing for domestic and overseas expansion, but which have limited assets or a short credit history. Alibaba.com has built a central database of online credit-related information as well as an evaluation and risk management system. The scheme will be tested first in Zhejiang province before being rolled out across Mainland China.