Hankou Bank has signed an agreement with the intellectual property office of the Wuhan city government pledging at least 5 billion yuan ($765.8 million) in credit over five years using intellectual property as collateral.

The deal follows the office's cooperation with other banks that together will offer nearly 10 billion yuan in credit lines for IP-collateralized loans.

To promote commercialization of intellectual property, local authorities designated six organizations to evaluate intangible assets and helped build an IP trade center.

Last year alone, transactions in patents, integrated circuit designs and proprietary information totaled more than 4.4 billion yuan in the city.

(Source: China Daily)