On 9 January 2020, at the 2020 CRO Global Summit and Chief Responsibility Officer (CRO) Award Ceremony jointly organized by the Daily Economic News and the SiM CSR Promotion Centre, IB was awarded the “Chief Responsibility Officer of the Financial Industry” award in recognition of its efforts and achievements in practicing the social responsibility concept of “integrating righteousness with profitability”, consciously undertaking social responsibility and promoting harmonious and sustainable development of the economy, society and environment.
It is reported that IB adheres to the concept of practicing social responsibility through “integrating righteousness with profitability”, accelerates its own supply-side structural reform, continues to increase the supply of high-quality finance, enhances the ability to serve real economy and gives full play to its distinctive advantages to help fight the “three major battles”. While exploring the blue ocean of green finance and building a grouping, multi-level and comprehensive green finance product and service system, IB has actively engaged in inclusive finance business, expanded and formed a number of superior products and services for inclusive finance, and continued to improve the financial service capacity in such areas as small and micro enterprises, private enterprises, “agriculture, countryside and farmers” sector and disadvantaged groups.
As the first EPFI in China, in 2019, IB played the advantage of being the “leader” in green finance, helped win the battle against pollution, and achieved the medium-term development goal of “two one trillion” one year ahead of schedule. That is, by 2020, the Group’s green finance financing balance and its number of green finance customers would exceed RMB 1 trillion and 10,000 respectively. By the end of 2019, the IB’s financing balance of green finance reached RMB 101.09 billion, with 14,764 green finance customers, who has served 19,454 enterprises in green financing for a total of RMB 22,232 billion. The green projects supported by IB can help save the consumption of 30.04 million tons of standard coal and 41.06 million tons of water, and reduce the emission of 84.39 million tons of carbon dioxide in China per year.
To provide financial services with love, IB has been strengthening its financial supply in weak links and areas such as the “agriculture, countryside and famers” sector, small and micro enterprises, and poverty-stricken areas, build a sustainable development model for inclusive finance, and come out with a differentiated road of inclusive finance with Industrial characteristics.
IB plays its role as the main channel of indirect financing of the bank, keeps improving the exclusive product and service system integrating financing, settlement and value-added functions for private and small and micro enterprises, and continuously improves the financing availability for private and small and micro enterprises and reduces the financing costs. By the end of 2019, IB had 56,400 inclusive micro and small enterprise customers with a loan balance of RMB 126,049 million, and 24,300 private enterprise customers with a loan balance of RMB 738,209 million respectively.
By virtue of the unique bank-bank platform and through an in-depth integration and innovation of finance and technology, IB provides technology and product services to small and medium-sized banks in a standardized access model, and the Bank-Bank Platform is currently cooperated with 2,022 institutional clients and provided information system construction services for 358 small and medium-sized commercial banks. Through the Bank-Bank Platform, IB has expanded its modern financial services to more third- and fourth-tier cities and rural areas, filled the blind spots in financial services and became a typical sample of practicing inclusive finance in the banking industry.
Adapting to the trend of an ageing population, IB has launched the first pension-related financial service scheme in China for the aged, “Safe and Happy Pension Finance”, and used the community sub-branches as a strategic support to vigorously promote the construction of financial service channels for the aged and opened up the “last mile” of financial services. In particular, since 2018, IB has actively responded to the China’s call to construct a multi-level social security system, deeply participated in the tax-deferred pension insurance pilot and the third pillar reform of pensions, and conducted effective pension finance innovation. So far, IB has managed the comprehensive financial assets of more than RMB 1.1 trillion for pension finance and served over 17 million elderly customers.
2019 is a crucial year for winning the battle against targeted poverty alleviation. IB has paid equal attention to the “financial support” and “capacity generation”, built five targeted poverty alleviation systems, namely, industrial poverty alleviation, channel poverty alleviation, product poverty alleviation, targeted poverty alleviation and education poverty alleviation, continued to improve a long-term through-in-one public interest and charity mechanism. i.e., “donation for education” “disaster relief” and “poverty alleviation”, and formed a set of systematic, complete and effective “IB Model” and a set of systematic, complete and effective “Mode of industrial promotion” and a set of replicable “IB Experience” in financial poverty alleviation. By the end of the third quarter of 2019, the balance of targeted poverty alleviation loans totaled RMB 8.198 billion, with an increase of RMB 681 million or 9% compared with the beginning of the period. In the past five years, IB donated more than RMB 200 million for public interest and charity purpose .
It is worth mentioning that IB actively plays the role of a Chinese enterprise as a “global citizen” and is committed to contributing Chinese wisdom and power to global sustainable development. On September 22, 2019, IB and other world leading sustainability banks, including the Citibank, became one of the first signatories to the Principles for Responsible Banking, setting a global benchmark for responsible banking. In the same year, the 2019 Annual General Meeting of Equator Principles Association was held in Singapore. As the first EPFI in China, IB has taken into account China’s national conditions and its own practical experience, actively participated in the revision of the Equator Principles (4th Edition), the gold standard for environmental and social risks in the international banking industry, through various forms and the whole process, to raise China’s voice, address global climate change and promote sustainable development globally.