In the recent selection of Country Awards for Achievement 2015 sponsored by Hong Kong's FinanceAsia, ICBC, with its outstanding performance in foreign exchange market making and trading, was awarded the Best FX Bank 2015.

ICBC has ranked first for many years in China's inter-bank foreign exchange in terms of market making scale, with foreign exchange trading capability leading the industry, according to an ICBC official. At present, ICBC offers 26 currencies for exchange settlement and sale, ranking first among the banks. Quotation of 18 currencies for settlement and sale can be checked through personal internet and mobile banking channels and the relevant transactions can be directly handled. With reference to the O2O model, ICBC has piloted the reserved foreign currency note withdrawal service at nearly 500 outlets in seven provinces and municipalities including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. Customers are allowed to conveniently withdraw foreign currency notes provided that they reserve through the internet or mobile banking by inputting information such as currency, amount, time and outlet, and take the money at the outlet on time. Convenience and efficiency for customer to withdraw in cash are thereby enhanced.

In addition, to meet growing needs of customers for foreign exchange trading and hedging, ICBC has designed and launched forward foreign exchange settlement and sale business, RMB and foreign exchange swap business, RMB/FX call option, RMB/ FX put option and other new exchange rate hedging products; it has independently developed the derivatives pricing system, which covers major asset classes including all basic interest rate and foreign exchange rate derivatives with ability to independently price, evaluate, and calculate risks for all existing derivative trades. It has thus become the first Chinese commercial bank to carry out active market making and quotation for foreign exchange trade in the international market.

The Hong Kong magazine FinanceAsia is a noted and influential financial media in Asia. This award highlights ICBC's comprehensive strength in the foreign exchange market making, franchised transactions, risk prevention and control, system construction, etc, and marks further acknowledgment of ICBC's foreign exchange business by the international circle.