On September 25, heads from 13 of China's joint stock commercial banks gathered in Nanning for the 2008 Summit of the Heads of National Joint Stock Commercial Banks. Bank heads present at the summit discussed issues regarding the development of commercial banks. Leaders from the Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and senior officials from the CBRC, PBOC and the CBA were also invited to attend the summit.
The Summit of the Heads of National Joint Stock Commercial Banks is an annual event that is hosted by a different member bank each year. The summit, which was first held in 1989, includes in-depth discussions into the present and future of the banking industry, strategic issues, difficulties as well as current topics. This year's summit was held by the Industrial Bank and the Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the theme being: “The Social Responsibility of Chinese Joint Stock Commercial Banks”.
The concept of social responsibility is becoming more set in people's minds as economic globalization continues to deepen. Social responsibilities represent a set of common values, general language and a code of conduct subscribed to by the government, companies and in other walks of life as the harmonious development of society is sought. Over recent years, the social responsibilities of financing organizations in the banking industry have been receiving increasing attention as institutional reform deepens and competitiveness increases. In the aim of promoting greater responsibility in China's banking industry, the banks present at the summit, based on their own different perspectives in the fulfillment of social responsibilities, elaborated on the relationship between the transformation and reform of the business development and management in commercial banks and their social responsibilities. The active measures taken and achievements made by joint stock commercial banks in their pursuit of greater social responsibility were summarized and highlighted during the summit. The banks present jointly signed the Declaration of the Social Responsibilities of Joint Stock Commercial Banks, which was one of the major achievements made at the summit.
At the summit, leaders from financial supervisory departments and the Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region also expressed their thoughts on a number of related issues, such as promoting more social responsibility in the banking industry, promoting financial organizations and local economies to establish harmonious finance and achieving the sustainable development of society and the economy.