According to ICBC, The Agreement Text on the Underwriting of Debt Instruments by non-Financial Enterprises in Inter-Bank Bond Market ("Underwriting Agreement Text") and The Agreement Text on the Syndicate of Debt Instruments from non-Financial Enterprises in Inter-Bank Bond Market ("Syndicate Agreement Text") announced recently by the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) will be adopted by ICBC as the primary text for underwriting contracts. Industry insiders believe that the two standard agreement texts running into official use is a boost to the working efficiency and standard of underwriting business among the banks and will remarkably promote the prosperity of the debt instrument market in the long term as well.

Currently the inter-bank bond market underwriters are using their own agreement texts. No uniform documentation. Parties in a deal have to spend lengthy hours and efforts to reach consensus on the agreement terms, which means higher transaction cost. As the market is galloping ahead in recent years, the situation is especially under strain from the market participants who are asking for a standard text. In light of this, NAFMII took the initiative to draft the "Underwriting Agreement Text" and "Syndicate Agreement Text" to clarify the rights and obligations of all parties during underwriting. The two agreement texts are intended to serve as a basis for participants to follow, increase working efficiency and streamline the business.

The ICBC spokesperson related the following points found in these two primary texts: I. Serve the interests of all parties. The agreement texts protect the legal rights of the parties concerned by clearly identifying the rights and obligations of the issuers, lead underwriters and syndicate members in equal terms. To ensure every party has a voice, NAFMII drafters organized seminars to invite underwriting institutions, offering companies, legal experts to discuss and solicited suggestions from the market participants when the discussion draft was completed. All the opinions and recommendations were incorporated into the final version which was well-catered for all the parties in the end. II. Unified and flexible. The agreement texts explicitly state that no change is allowed on critical and principal terms, yet flexible on the detail terms. Agreement parties are allowed to amend or append by supplements in case specific terms are required on the business. III. Pragmatic approach, market practices. The whole framework and expression of terms in the agreement texts follow closely the market operation and practices. Market participants will find the new agreement texts easier to adopt and use.