From September 14 to September 20, 2026, an update in the Financial Licensing Information “Institutional Withdrawal” section of the Financial Supervisory Authority showed that 13 rural banks across the country withdrew, of which 11 were approved on September 18, 2026. According to the reporter's statistics, as of September 23, the number of legal entities in village banks across the country dropped to 986, falling below the 1,000 mark for the first time since the establishment of the first village bank in China in 2007. What is behind the number falling below a thousand families is not a simple “wave of shutdowns,” but a structural restructuring with the main path of absorption and merger of the main sponsor banks and village reform and expenditure. For example, judging from the disclosed regulatory approvals, the Xiamen Xiang'an Minsheng Village Bank took over all assets and liabilities from Minsheng Bank, the Shanghai Chongming Shanghai Agricultural Commercial Bank was absorbed by the Shanghai Agricultural Commercial Bank as a whole, and the Qingzhou Agricultural Commercial Bank absorbed Zhoucun Qinglong Village Bank and then turned its branch into a branch. The number of corporate licenses is declining, but most of the outlets, customers, and deposit and loan businesses have moved to undertakers, and the continuity of financial services in the county has not been interrupted due to “license sales.”