To further unleash household consumption vitality, the Ministry of Finance recently optimized and upgraded the fiscal subsidy policy for personal consumer loans. Through multiple substantive measures such as extending the duration, increasing the quota, and expanding the scope, the policy aims to drive consumption growth. Ant Consumer Finance recently announced an extension of the subsidy policy's implementation period until the end of 2026. Concurrently, it has abolished the previous 500-yuan cap on single-transaction subsidies and removed restrictions on eligible spending categories, aiming to support major and diversified consumption needs. As one of the first 23 designated institutions, Ant Consumer Finance primarily provides state-subsidized services to consumers through Huabei installment plans. Building on the 1% state subsidy, it collaborates with e-commerce platforms and brand merchants to further reduce the interest burden on consumers.
The subsidy amount has increased by 23% year-on-year. According to the latest information from Ant Consumer Finance, since the subsidy policy was implemented in September 2025, the institution, in collaboration with platform merchants, has provided consumers with a subsidy amount that is 23% higher compared to the previous year. Looking back, in August of last year, the Ministry of Finance and two other ministries jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for the Fiscal Subsidy Policy on Personal Consumer Loans," which took effect one month later. The plan clearly stipulates a 1% annual fiscal subsidy for eligible personal consumer loans. Subsequently, e-commerce platforms and brand merchants actively followed suit, not only implementing the state subsidy policy but also increasing their own matching investments to jointly promote a recovery in the consumer market.
In fact, even before the national subsidy policy was introduced, many merchants had already independently offered subsidies to stimulate consumption, achieving interest-free installment payments via Huabei for some products. Following the implementation of the relevant policies, Huabei, in collaboration with platform merchants, further expanded the coverage of interest-free options and increased the number of interest-free installments available. This has provided consumers with access to hundreds of millions of products available for interest-free installment purchases, with options for up to 24 interest-free installments. To centrally display these subsidized and interest-free products and facilitate consumer shopping, Taobao and Tmall launched a "National Subsidy" product zone on October 30 last year. To date, this zone has attracted tens of millions of consumer visits.
Driven by the combined effect of "policy subsidies + financial support + merchant discounts," consumption potential is being effectively unleashed. Data from Huabei Installments shows that the average per capita installment spending during the 2025 "Double 11" shopping festival increased by 18% compared to September, indicating that lower consumer costs are boosting spending willingness. Meanwhile, consumer categories that cater to the public's desire for an improved quality of life have experienced significant growth. After the launch of the "National Subsidy" zone on Taobao and Tmall, the transaction value of interest-free installments in industries such as apparel, major home appliances, home furnishings, automobiles, trendy toys, and small appliances all increased by over 20%, with the apparel industry seeing growth of nearly 50%.
Policy tailwinds continue. The proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly call for "vigorously boosting consumption" and include specific directives such as "increasing the intensity of inclusive policies that directly benefit consumers." At the beginning of 2026, multiple national ministries and commissions successively introduced policy measures, sending positive and clear policy signals to the market. On January 20, the Ministry of Finance announced a package of five policies to synergize fiscal and financial efforts in stimulating domestic demand. These policies aim to expand effective demand from two aspects: vigorously boosting consumption and expanding private investment. According to the latest policy arrangements, the implementation period for both the subsidy policy on loans to service industry entities and the subsidy policy on personal consumer loans has been uniformly extended until December 31, 2026. The annual subsidy rate will remain at 1 percentage point, and the funding sharing ratio between the central and local governments will stay unchanged at 90% and 10%, respectively.
The fiscal subsidy policy for personal consumer loans has been optimized mainly in four areas: expanding the scope of support, broadening eligible sectors, raising the subsidy standard, and increasing the number of designated institutions. These optimizations include incorporating credit card bill分期 business into the support scope with an annual subsidy ratio of 1 percentage point; removing previous restrictions on eligible消费 sectors; and adding new designated institutions beyond the initial 23 nationwide entities, including some city commercial banks, rural commercial banks, foreign banks, consumer finance companies, and auto finance companies. Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min stated at a recent State Council Information Office press conference that boosting consumption is an important part of improving people's livelihoods and a lasting driver of economic growth. "We are closely monitoring the demands from all sides. To better respond to societal expectations, these two consumer subsidy policies have been optimized in four aspects, with the focus on making the policies more effective, more convenient, and more sustainable."
Multiple parties are collaborating to expand consumption. With the effective implementation of the national subsidy policy, financial institutions are actively leveraging the policy's effectiveness by increasing consumer credit supply and continuously optimizing products and services. Stimulating market vitality and unleashing consumption potential have become key tasks for financial institutions. Earlier, the "Guiding Opinions on Financial Support for Boosting and Expanding Consumption," issued by the People's Bank of China and five other departments in June 2025, explicitly guided financial institutions to strengthen financial services from both the supply and demand sides of consumption. This aims to meet the diverse financing needs of various entities, promote the expansion of high-quality consumer supply, and help unleash consumption growth potential. In December of the same year, a joint notice issued by the Ministry of Commerce and two other departments further pointed out that merchants and platforms are encouraged to issue consumption vouchers and provide more low-interest and interest-free installment options. It also guides financial institutions to deepen cooperation with merchants and platforms to jointly develop financial products and services tailored to the characteristics of the consumer industry, enabling precise customer acquisition and flexible promotions, thereby forming a synergistic force for expanding consumption involving the "government + financial institutions + merchants."
Driven by both policy support and market collaboration, Huabei and platform merchants are working together to create a consumption leverage mechanism. Only when consumers benefit and platform merchants also see growth can long-term consumption expansion be achieved. Taking the 2025 "Double 11" period as an example, data shows that the coverage rate for interest-free installments on products priced over 100 yuan in Bosideng's Tmall flagship store reached 97.8%, with interest-free installment payments accounting for 12.7% of the total payment amount. The results were even more significant for merchants who implemented store-wide interest-free policies. For instance, a leading solid wood furniture brand saw an 80% increase in installment transaction value, driving a nearly 20% increase in the store's total transaction value. A well-known robotic vacuum cleaner brand experienced a 90% growth in installment transaction value, with the store's total transaction value increasing by over 30%.
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