Second, digital transformation contributed to the development of inclusive finance. The banking and insurance sectors have accelerated product and service innovation to promote the transformation and upgrading of the national economy. According to reports from relevant international organizations, China's inclusive financial services have met international standards, with electronic payments, digital credit and online insurance leading the world. In 2020, banking institutions and insurance institutions invested a total of 207.8 billion and 35.1 billion yuan in information technology respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 20% and 27%. The five largest banks have established special fintech companies, which has significantly enhanced the availability and convenience of financial services. For example, giving full play to its advantages in technology and data, China Construction Bank implemented process re-engineering to facilitate lending to small and micro enterprises. It also established a "quick loans for micro and small enterprises" online business model, and innovated a series of exclusive service solutions for inclusive finance. At the end of 2020, the national inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises stood at 15.3 trillion yuan, with a growth rate of over 30%. For the five largest banks, growth was 54.8%. Basic financial services have been extended to all administrative villages. The serious disease insurance scheme has covered 1.13 billion urban and rural residents.
Third, decisive achievements have been made in the battle to forestall and defuse financial risks. As regards the tasks and requirements put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the Central Economic Work Conference at the end of 2016 and the 2017 National Financial Work Conference, risks to the banking and insurance sectors have been gradually constrained, and several major potential pitfalls and problems have been avoided. We have held the bottom line and fended off systemic risks. First, the financial leverage ratio has dropped significantly, and the blind expansion of financial assets has been fundamentally curbed. From 2017 to 2020, the average annual growth rates of total assets in the banking and insurance sectors were 8.3% and 11.4%, respectively, roughly half of the average annual growth rate from 2009 to 2016. The proportion of interbank assets idling within the financial system has also dropped significantly. Second, solid progress has been made in the identification and disposal of non-performing assets in the banking industry. We disposed of 8.8 trillion yuan of non-performing loans from 2017 to 2020, exceeding the total of the previous 12 years. Third, shadow banking has been dismantled in an orderly manner, dropping by about 20 trillion yuan from its historical peak. Fourth, financial crimes have been severely punished and the risks of illegal financial groups have been gradually defused. A large number of illegal fundraising cases have been dealt with in an orderly manner, and online financial risks have been well addressed. Fifth, with timely and effective response to external risks, we ensured that the financial system maintained strong resilience. Sixth, the financialization and bubbles in real estate have been curbed. The growth rate of real estate loans in 2020 was lower than that of various other loans for the first time in eight years. Seventh, the incremental risk over the hidden debt of local governments has been basically controlled, and we have been pressing ahead with the resolution of existing risks in an orderly manner. Eighth, the debt risks of large- and medium-sized enterprises have been handled steadily. By the end of 2020, a total of 20,000 creditors' committees had been established nationwide; the country had implemented 1.6 trillion yuan in debt-to-equity swaps according to market-oriented and law-based rule, and more than 500 large- and medium-sized enterprises had implemented joint credit granting pilot projects.
