IB Picks Up Best Corporate Public Image Award

The results of the 2007 Best Corporate Public Image Award were recently announced in Beijing. The Industrial Bank stood out from hundreds of companies that were in the running, successfully claiming the 2007 title.

The appraisal is a joint undertaking between the Enterprise Research Institute of the State Council's Development & Research Center, the China Credit Research Center of Beijing University, Sohu Business and Guanghua Media. It is China's most influential public appraisal of commercial morality and the only one that integrates comprehensive public appraisal into the evaluation of companies. The appraisal is made with strict standards and open evaluation procedures.

The evaluation process for this year's event began in August 2007. Sustainable development and corporate image were chosen as the themes for the appraisal while global warming, a major issue confronting the entire planet, was given a large amount of consideration. A total of 180 companies entered the appraisal following joint recommendations by 30 influential media groups from major cities, online voting by the public and on the basis that they were willing to participate in and could provide serious information for the appraisal.

Emerging as the victor from such a large number of strong opponents goes a long way to show that the public and many circles of society have recognized the efforts that the Industrial Bank has made in being a responsible corporate citizen and fulfilling its obligations to society. The Industrial Bank has led the way in China by being the first to offer energy-efficiency finance products, and has been doing its bit to implement national policies on “energy saving and emissions reduction” by means of its “green-credit” policy. The Industrial Bank issued a total of 38 energy-efficiency loans in 2007 that represented a total of RMB 663 million Yuan. The projects supported by these loans will be able to reduce standard coal consumption by 835,100 tons and carbon dioxide emissions by 2.639 million tons annually. For the Bank, these loans have been highly effective in fulfilling obligations to society and developing sustainable finance.

Other winners of this year's Best Corporate Public Image Award included 15 renowned Chinese Companies, such as Vanke and Lenovo, and 10 MNC's, such as Coca-cola and IBM.