Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

Supplement: BOC makes all-out effort to raise service level

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-06 10:33

Since last year, to cope with the challenge of the ongoing international financial crisis, Bank of China (BOC) has engaged in a series of policies and measures, amplified distribution of valid credit, reinforced their business structure, and upgraded their level of business to uphold the stable, yet swift development of the Chinese economy.

Implementing macroeconomic policies and enhancing credit distribution

After the state enacted a series of measures on expanding domestic demand and promoting economic growth in November 2008, BOC promptly held a special-topic conference. It took the lead in enacting 10 different measures to carry out macroeconomic policies of the central government and increase credit support on key sectors and industries to effectively satisfy the current demand of economic entities on financial services.

According to the orientation of the industrial policy of the state, BOC promptly specified key areas for credit support: the key infrastructure construction projects of the state, including railway, airport, highway, power grids, nuclear power and hydropower; increasing the support of urban infrastructure construction projects, including urban railways, road, water supplies, waste water and waste treatment as well as rural highway and power grid projects; increase credit support for housing projects for low-income urban residents; give priority to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) , key customers of BOC; continue to offer credit support to export enterprises whose products retain a consistent level of demand from the overseas market; continue to support the globalization of resource-based enterprises and offer comprehensive financial services including global unified credit certification, syndicated loans, trade and financing, export credit, global cash management, investment banks, and insurance companies. BOC has optimized and adjusted the credit certification policies in a timely manner, and further enhanced the support on economic entities, in conjunction with industrial rejuvenation planning by the state on several occasions.

At the same time as they promptly issued corresponding measures and implemented the macroeconomic policies of the state, BOC expanded the size of yuan loans and accelerated the distribution of valid credit. By the end of 2008, the onshore corporate loans of BOC were above 250 billion yuan, more than that of 2007 and above 90 billion more than that of early 2008. Moreover, the net increase volume in November and December was 50 billion yuan.

In January, under the premise of watchful risk control, BOC continued to enhance their credit distribution efforts. By the end of January, the balance of their corporate loans was nearly 1.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 87.29 billion yuan, than that of the beginning of the year, with a single-month growth of 5.79%. The newly-distributed corporate loans further tilt in favor of "power, gas, and water," "communications and transport, warehousing, and postal," and "water conservancy, environment, and public facilities management." With this, the corporate financial business began with their best foot forward.

Stressing risk control while stabilizing quality of assets

While promoting rapid business development, BOC has remained compliant in its operation. It effectively controls risks and ensures consistent quality in its assets. Since late 2008, BOC’s newly-increased loans were mainly injected in such key areas as infrastructure construction projects, post-disaster reconstruction, corporate M&A, and independent innovation. Key sectors such as railway, highway, urban construction, power and resources, large resource-based enterprises, as well as key credit projects of domestic enterprises adopting globalization strategies and loan structure were also further optimized.

For enterprises encountering operational difficulty due to the impact of the financial crisis, BOC analyzes them individually and offers different treatment. For enterprises concerning the key basic energies and raw materials of the state, and those which enjoy healthy prospects despite the current difficulty, BOC offers vigorous support to help them navigate through these difficulties. For enterprises experiencing problems like poor management, long investment positions, reduced productivity rates, high energy consumption and high pollution, BOC will enhance its efforts on the recovery of non-performing loans and do its best to protect its assets.

To support SMEs, BOC has made innovations on such aspects as: operational concepts, organizational structure, product services, specialized flow and risk control, as well as launching a "new business mode for SMEs" and a "Credit Factory" by referring to the advanced experience of domestic and international peers. The pilot project in Shanghai and Fujian has also received the recognition of its customers, local government and regulatory institutions. By the end of 2008, pilot outlets in Shanghai and Quanzhou offered credit support to 462 SMEs. This January, BOC's loans to small enterprise increased to above 10 billion yuan. According to the plan, by the end of Q1, BOC's SME business mode will be populated by up to 16 sub-branches in Beijing and Zhejiang. By late this year, BOC will also build 30-40 "credit factories" in Central and western China.

BOC has also carried out research on the economic situation and industrial policies, enhancing its sensitivity to the change of economic and industrial policies, increased the alert to the risk of over-production, high energy consumption and high pollution industries, increased its study of key industries, emerging industries, local pillar industries and key projects, and accelerated the forward-thinking study of such segmented fields as new energy, new materials and new technology. Currently, BOC has put forward specific development plans to over 40 different industries including, but not limited to, telecom, coal, electronics, photovoltaic, paper making, real estate, iron and steel, cement, shipping, chemical fibre and textiles.

Strengthening business aspects while creating constant reform and innovation

In light of the demand of corporate customers adopting globalization strategies, BOC has a special financial service scheme design, comprehensively utilizing such products and services as project financing, syndicated loans, financing for M&A, overseas funds management, new-type liability financing, and financial advisory to offer effective support for enterprises to expand to the international market by taking advantage of its diversified platform and overseas network. In 2008, BOC successfully undertook the large overseas projects of PetroChina, CNPC, CNOOC, CHINAOIL, Huaneng, CNOOC and China Netcom, with the financing amount surpassing $5 billion.

As the sole leading bank, BOC successfully arranged a $600 million USD syndicated loan for Telstra, the No 1 telecom carrier in Australia, creating a fresh new image in Australia. Once again, as the coordinator and agent, BOC arranged a $592 million USD export credit syndicated loan for Indonesian Indrumaya Power Station, receiving praise from the international financial market and winning the "Best Transaction Award of the Year," jointly awarded by Trade Finance and Global Trade Review. By 2008 Q3, BOC's syndicated loans took the number one position in the Chinese mainland market, Hong Kong and Macao. It placed 4th in all areas of the Asia-Pacific Region, with the exception of Japan, among "entrusted leading banks." BOC's syndicated loans also took the top position in the Chinese mainland market, the 2nd position in the markets of Hong Kong and Macao, and the 1st position in the Asia-Pacific Region, with the exception of Japan, among "bookkeeping banks."

In recent years, BOC has conducted extensive and in-depth cooperation in the areas of corporate finance with overseas strategic investors. The scope of this cooperation has involved such aspects as vessel financing, real estate financing, project financing, syndicated loan, aircraft financing, vehicle leasing, and financial advisory. These cooperation projects are spoken of highly by investors. Through the collaboration in high-end financing projects with their strategic investor Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), BOC has accumulated precious experience on high-end financial services. It has tempered and cultivated a batch of professionals and raised the capabilities and image of working on high-end financing products by a large margin. By the end of 2008, BOC had successfully cooperated with RBS on 21 projects in such fields as vessel financing, aircraft financing, project financing, syndicated loans, and financial advisory.