The Sydney-based Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has opened its first county bank branch in China's key farming province to offer lending, deposit and fee-based services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and business owners, the bank said.

The branch, in Jiyuan City, Henan Province, had a registered capital of 80 million yuan (12 million U.S. dollars), Wang Jiliang, head of the bank's Jiyuan branch, said Thursday.

The CBA controled an 80-percent stake in the venture, while its Chinese partner, Bank of Hangzhou, held the remainder, he said.

Henan is a key farming province with more than 100 million people, but rural financing is relatively weak.

Wang said the bank aimed to build the Jiyuan branch into a competitive county bank in three years and was working to set up seven other rural branches in Henan. Three had been approved by the authorities.

The branch would provide SMEs in Jiyuan with badly needed capital and facilitate the growth of the city's financial sector, a senior municipal official said.

Commonwealth Bank International Financial Services Group Executive Simon Blair said in a press release on the bank's website that SMEs were a significant part of the Chinese economy, with inadequate banking services.

"As the first foreign bank to gain approval to open a county bank in Henan, it represents a significant opportunity for the Commonwealth Bank Group," Blair said.