The five state ministries and commissions, namely People's Bank of China, Ministry of Civil Affairs, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and China Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly released a document recently: intensify credit support to pension field. The public believed that this is the "last one kilometer" of credit support to pension. About this, however, I hold a different opinion: never let credit support to pension become the "last one kilometer"!

In recent years, reports about the "last one kilometer" of pension support appeared frequently. In the Regulations about "Home-based Senior Services" released by Beijing Government in 2014, there appeared the comment of "influence resulted from the Regulations is, to a large extent, a reform to pension thinking mode, being the 'last one kilometer' of pension support". Lately, there appeared the comment of "payment problem in elderly health service industry becomes the 'last one kilometer' in pension support" in the discussion of it being necessary to provide a valuable self-service development platform for elderly health service industry.

Now, when the five state ministries and commissions jointly released a document, requiring to intensify credit supports to pension field, there is still the comment of "credit loan is the 'last one kilometer' to support pension".

Is there a "last one kilometer" for pension support? We can find the answer in the following information:

China is a country which has the largest aged population and the fastest growth of aged population in the current world. By 2025, the aged population will reach 300 million, and will exceed 400 million in 2050 in China. The aged population increases by 400 persons per day, 150 thousand per year and 6% on annual average. There are almost 3 million people facing pension problems in China where development of public nursing institutions for the aged is quite lagged.

Pension market has a large opening. Besides, according to information in "Forecast Report on Development Trend of China's Population Aging", the potential market scale of Chinese elderly nursing service and daily nursing has exceeded RMB 450 billion in 2015. But, the current problems in community nursing institutions for the aged in China lie not only in "being difficult to find a bed", and facilities for the elders and services of the existing nursing institutions for the aged cannot catch up with time development, which leaves it difficult to care, nurse, and rehabilitate some senior citizens with special demands. However, as China stepped into the aging society, pension would further become a new rigid demand, and the pension industry would further release its potential. The "last one kilometer" in Chinese pension support would exist for a long time.

We can see from this that the credit support to pension can by no means be the "last one kilometer".

In order to not turn credit support to pension into the "last one kilometer" for pension, there is no doubt that we should not only practically carry out requirements in the document jointly released by the five state ministries and commissions, but also well solve new conflicts and new problems existing in pension supports at present and in the future.

For example, it involves how to build pension finance business system, how to expand mortgage guarantee range for senior service industry, how to promote listing financing for eligible senior service enterprises and many other problems to correspond to population aging and improve pension finance services. Only by solving all these problems well, could we say that the "last one kilometer" of credit support to pension has been opened.

For another example, it involves how to pour real valuable services into pension health service platform, how to provide system guarantee for seamless connection between "pension" and "medical treatment", and many other problems to make the current elderly health service industry a real sunrise industry.

Anyway, the "last one kilometer" was directly related to the development of Chinese pension industry and survival problems of vulnerable groups, and finally to government credibility. Therefore, only after we have improved credit management mechanism for senior service industry, innovated loan mode for senior service industry, and expanded mortgage guarantee range for senior service industry, especially after we have basically solved problems about pension and life security of laid-off workers in urban areas and farmers without land in rural areas, can we say: we have finally practically solved the short slab of the "last one kilometer" of senior service, and finally converted accelerating development of pension industry into an important supporting point to improve people's livelihood and build a moderately prosperous society.