The president of the world's leading online business provider has called on the government and banks to establish a new financial structure for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Alibaba Group president Jack Ma, speaking at the APEC summit in Singapore on Nov 12, wants SMEs to be offered loans below 50,000 dollars, stating banks are reluctant to give loans to SMEs as some believe they do not have enough information from the enterprises.

Alibaba, China's largest online business operator, says they have failed to receive one dollar from banks in the past ten years following its growth from employing 18 staff at the company's base in Hangzhou to a massive workforce of more than 11,000 people.

Ma said no big bank president or CEO has ever attended SME summits. "How can you get information and know what they need if you do not go there to talk to them?" he said..

"One banker told me he gave a 200 million loan to a SME, but I do not think the lender is a SME," he added. A research conducted by Alibaba shows 87 percent of SMEs need a loan below 60, 000 dollars.

Ma also calls for more attention and understanding to be given to SMEs as they are the "future and hopes" for a nation.

"Everybody seems to be happy and it seems the economy has come back now. But how can the economy come back if SMEs do not come back? How can the economy come back if future and homes do not come back?" he said.

He believes every economy needs incentive packages to have more SMEs and hopes.

According to statistics released by the National Reform and Development Commission in Oct, 2008, 99 percent of China's registered enterprises are SMEs, which contribute 59 percent of the country's GDP and over 75 percent of jobs in cities. But only less than 20 percent loans go to SMEs.

By Guo Changdong