Can Banking Middle Platforms Unlock the Future of Inclusive Finance?

Since 2015, Alibaba Group and other leading internet companies have explored a middle‑platform (中台) strategy, influencing the industry. The article asks whether commercial banks face the same choice and whether a credit middle platform can create significant value.

1. Alibaba Group Middle‑Platform Strategy

At the end of 2015, Alibaba announced a "big middle platform, small front" model to build a more innovative and flexible organization. The front‑end becomes more agile, while the middle platform aggregates the group's data and technology capabilities to strongly support all front‑end businesses. Over years, Alibaba formed a core middle‑platform business unit that empowers more than 20 front‑end units, laying a solid foundation for the next decade.

The 2015 State Council "Internet+" guidance encouraged financial institutions to use cloud computing, mobile internet, and big data, promoting inclusive finance while noting the lack of internet awareness in traditional enterprises.

2. Agricultural Bank’s "Thin Front, Thick Middle, Strong Back" IT Architecture

Based on industry best practices, the Agricultural Bank’s R&D Center proposed an IT architecture that emphasizes platform‑sharing, service reuse, and improved business response efficiency, creating a lightweight front end, a shared middle platform, and a strong back‑end support system for digital transformation.

Traditional banks distinguish front and back offices by value chain: front offices interact directly with customers, while back offices handle management and control. This separation often leads to mismatched goals and inefficiencies. The middle platform resolves this by abstracting reusable services, processes, models, and data from various front‑end products, forming a unified, shared capability that accelerates product design.

3. Inclusive‑Finance Requirements for Middle‑Platform Construction

With interest‑rate marketization and more direct financing channels, large enterprises rely less on bank loans, making inclusive finance for small‑and‑micro enterprises (SMEs) a key focus. Challenges include information asymmetry, lengthy loan approvals, high default rates, and low loan amounts that make traditional lending unprofitable.

Key solutions:

Replace financial statements with operational data (e.g., electricity, tax) to reduce information asymmetry.

Automate pre‑loan investigation and approval using machine decision‑making to lower costs and speed up service.

Leverage big data, AI, cloud, and mobile technologies to build fully online, automated, and intelligent lending products.

Policy support, such as the 2018 “Opinions on Deepening Financial Services for SMEs,” encourages fintech‑driven solutions.

Examples of fintech products include:

Construction Bank’s “Cloud Electricity Loan” based on electricity usage data.

Agricultural Bank’s “Tax e‑Loan” using tax information.

WeBank’s “Micro‑Business Loan” integrating commercial, judicial, customs, and third‑party data.

Zhejiang Net‑Business Bank’s “310” model achieving 3‑minute applications, 1‑second disbursement, and zero manual intervention.

4. Credit Middle‑Platform Construction Ideas

All commercial banks are moving toward industry‑scenario lending, requiring supplemental commercial‑scenario data beyond traditional account balances. Integrating third‑party trustworthy data (tax, water, electricity, orders, judicial, customs, public sentiment) is essential for robust credit assessment.

Commonalities across online loan products include similar process steps (application, admission, credit approval, usage, repayment), shared data sources, and basic functional modules (customer management, product parameter maintenance). Consolidating these into a reusable credit middle‑platform avoids duplicated standards and promotes unified credit management.

Without a unified middle platform, exclusive credit limits hinder customers from applying for multiple products, reducing experience and potentially driving them to competitors. A shared middle platform also enables cross‑product data reuse, preventing siloed credit models.

Successful middle‑platform adoption requires organizational guarantees and incentive mechanisms. Alibaba’s middle‑platform only flourished after establishing clear responsibilities and incentives, illustrating the importance of aligning business units with shared services.