Behind every quality blue chip company, there must be an outstanding board of directors.
Shortly after it ranked No.6 among Asian banks in terms of competitiveness and won the prize of Asian Bank Offering the Greatest Returns to Shareholders consecutively, Industrial Bank received another good news. On Dec. 10, in the Appraisal of Outstanding Board of Directors in Chinese Listed Companies 2015 sponsored by 21st Century News Group, the Board of Directors of IB was awarded the prize of Outstanding Board of Directors in Chinese Listed Companies (Main Board) 2015 with its excellent corporate governance and operational performance, among thousands of listed companies.
Since its establishment, IB has always adhered to a market-oriented operation, and by seizing the opportunity from the introduction of overseas investors and IPO, continuing to improve corporate governance, and actively constructing a sound corporate governance system with clearly defined rights and duties, valid check and balance and coordinated operation, it has transformed its corporate governance goal from “shareholders' interests foremost” to “giving consideration to the interests of stakeholders” and finally to “giving full consideration to the appeals of multi-parties of interest”, thus fully established a corporate governance idea of “sustainable development”. It also practiced the CSR model of “obtaining reasonable profits while bringing benefits to the stakeholders”, combining CSR and sustainable development into operation and management practices, and realized a harmonious development of economic, social and environmental benefits with innovated business models.
Relying on its international strategic view and scientific and democratic decision-making mechanism as well as corporate governance rules featuring clear division of labor, check and balance, organic connection and amiable environment over general meetings of shareholders, board of directors, board of supervisors and senior executives, the board of directors of IB has successfully fulfilled the frog-leap development in five stages from a local bank, a regional bank, a national bank, a listed bank and a comprehensive financial group centered on banking business.
The bank now is one of the commercial banks with the most financial licenses in China, including 8 business licenses in trust, financial lease, fund, consumer finance, futures, assets management, and research/consulting, 4 direct shareholding (wholly-owned) companies, 5 indirect shareholding companies and invested in 5 companies. By the end of Q3 2015, its total assets reached 5.2 trillion yuan, No.1 in domestic joint-stock banks; realized business revenue of 112.354 billion yuan, increased 23.67% YoY, net profit 41.221 billion yuan, increased 7.62% YoY; return on total assets and return on equity are 0.86% and 15.75% respectively, maintaining at the top level of domestic listed banks. In the 2015 Asian Banks Competitiveness Ranking Research Report published recently, IB ranked No.6 among over 130 banks from 10 Asian countries and areas, only after 4 major state-owned banks and HSBC, topping China's joint-stock banks.
Regardless of good or bad circumstances of the economy, IB has always remembered to give its good returns to shareholders. “A good listed company should not only achieve good performance, but also have sound dividends policies, creating good value for shareholders and investors.” Gao Jianping, the Chairman of the bank once said. The bank featured a diversified, well-proportioned, complementary and harmonious shareholder structure. Data shows that, since its IPO in 2007, the total cash dividends of IB hit RMB 41.262 billion yuan, with a proportion of dividends as high as 20.21%, and the return on equity kept 24% and above on average. It won several honors like Listed Company with the Best Investment Value, Asian Bank Offering the Greatest Returns to Shareholders from authoritative organization or media.
With its sustained and stable development, IB's international position has improved steadily, ranking among the top 50 global banks, top 500 global companies, and top 200 global listed companies. It is now a branded blue chip company in Chinese capital market. And Green Finance, one of its gold signboard often mentioned by outsiders, is exactly the result of a decision of “making big and strong brand-based one with influence” made by the board of directors led by Gao Jianping, the chairman. It was later lifted to a strategic height of sustainable development, helping the bank to walk a different road of “turning green into gold” against fierce peer competitions. Centered on three major fields, i.e. low-carbon economy, recycling economy and ecological economy, IB has pioneered in innovation of Green Finance several times, becoming the first Equator Bank in China and a model in environmental finance field. By the end of Oct. 2015, IB has provided green financing of more than 754.3 billion yuan for over 1,000 enterprises, won a number of prizes including the champion of Asian Sustainable Bank, the Most Responsible Listed Company, and Carbon-value Social Citizen Award of the World Economic and Environmental Conference. Gao Jianping was also awarded several times the title of the “most far-reaching strategic perspective chairman” in the evaluation of “Golden Roundtable Prize” for board of directors.
The Appraisal of Outstanding Board of Directors in Chinese Listed Companies was sponsored by 21st Century News Group, the domestic mainstream financial media. Based on five indicator systems including capital returns, strategic management level, board governance, social responsibilities and market value management, it engages experts and scholars from third party research bodies and colleges, researchers at financial institutions, independent directors of listed companies and media professionals to conduct model research and screening on 66 objective data related to the board of directors for thousands of listed companies across the country (including Hong Kong).