In the wake of the reconstruction in Sichuan after the devastating Wenchuan earthquake, ICBC took great social responsibility and initiated all efforts to the recovery work. That included the improvement on the level and standard of financial services in the quake-stricken area, and the smooth process for the disbursement of relief funds and the support on the lending. By the end of April this year, ICBC has released reconstruction loans totaled to RMB 48.617 billion to provide strong financial support for the recovery.

Full Upgrade on the Financial Services in the Quake-hit Area

On "5.12" the day of the earthquake occurred, out of the 648 ICBC outlets in Sichuan, 246 outlets were damaged and 52 were badly damaged. To ensure access to the basic financial services for the victims in the affected areas, "Canvas Bank", "Slab Bank", "Bank on the move" were some of the ICBC creative service set up under extremely difficult conditions to address the immediate needs. Within 1 month after the disaster, 100% of ICBC outlets in Sichuan were open to business.

Over the past three years ICBC has invested nearly RMB 240 million to renovate or relocate 59 outlets in the quake-hit area. New sub-branches are set up in the hardest-hit areas of Beichuan County and Qingchuan County. Over 8000 new electronic devices (ATM, Internet Banking self-service machine, non-cash self-service terminals) are installed in the quake area to offer greater accessibility of banking services to the people living there. While setting up all the new outlets and devices, ICBC also increases the number of outlet windows and recruits more staff to boost the service capability and standard, now far improved than before the earthquake.

"Green Channel" for Smooth Disbursement of Relief Funds

ICBC opened the financial green channel in the immediate aftermath of "5.12" earthquake to ensure the disbursement for relief funds and social donations were in place. Within the shortest span the Bank solicited the charity organizations to sign up electronic banking service for all to donate fast and easy. No banking charges were collected on the donations. Within one month after the quake, over RMB 70 million in nearly 190,000 donations were sent to 161 charity organizations in 29 provinces/cities through ICBC electronic banking.

Disbursement of relief funds has many issues including wide area of coverage, huge group of people involved and no-delay nature of the demand. Therefore, ICBC Sichuan joined force with Guangdong Branch, Jiangsu Branch and other 17 provincial/city branches to build a task force for the delivery of "all-in-one" financial services including account opening, settlement and lending. Every disbursement has been in place without missing a second and errors. In an effort to ensure the timely disbursement and safekeeping of donation funds, ICBC took the initiative to talk with all charity organizations and draw out the detail working process based on the specified appropriation plan. Emphasis was placed on monitoring the monetary flow during the disbursement process. As a result, ICBC has been widely praised for the public donation accurately injected to all the major reconstruction projects.

Besides, ICBC assumed the tasks in releasing social security funds and subsidies to the residents in some disaster areas. In Beichuan, the hardest-hit county, ICBC was the party to distribute pension security funds and subsidies to the relocated residents. Tens of thousands of families and people waited in the line to receive their pension security funds and subsidies which they desperately need. Any delay added inconvenience to their daily life. Therefore, ICBC attached high importance on the job. Dedicated staff worked overtime for 5 days in succession, processing over 500 transactions in a day on average to ensure the subsidies or social security funds were in the hands of the residents in time.

Support Reconstruction and Economic Structural Adjustment by Lending

When the "5.12" earthquake broke out, ICBC immediately started the emergency process and "green channel" for reconstruction loans. Special procedures were adopted. In three days after the quake the first batch of ICBC loans involving RMB 389 million were released to electricity companies, highway and pharmaceutical enterprises. A total of RMB 1.263 billion, or 44% of the loans to the earthquake relief in Sichuan, was released within 15 days after the quake.

After the reconstruction and recovery work officially started, ICBC read the situation in detail and adjusted its lending policy to support after-quake reconstruction based on the principle of "lend to the needed, best service, innovative and creative". To help affected enterprises and victims get over the difficulty, ICBC allowed affected enterprises to apply for loan again, extend the loan or adjust the repayment plan if they cannot repay as schedule, according to ICBC policies and rules. In order to help affected individuals get over the difficulty, a certain grace period was given to those who were in the process of repaying the loan, depending on their application. Meanwhile, ICBC took the initiative to contact the concerned government departments in the disaster areas and affected enterprises to understand their needs of funds and reconstruction projects. Favorable conditions on new application, loan tenure, loan rate and guarantee were given for the reconstruction in disaster areas. Shorter approval process, priority lending to reconstruction were the measures taken to ensure loans were released in time for the purpose.

Since the quake struck, a lot of equipment in Dongfang Turbine Co. Ltd's old factory area was buried in the rubbles. Dongfang Turbine urgently required importing advanced equipment from overseas in order to recover the production in the shortest time. ICBC immediately opened the green channel once the Dongfang Turbine's application was received. A low-interest loan of USD 200 million was soon released to address the immediate need. ICBC also offered services, such as opening of guarantee and letter of credit, for the company to quickly re-capture the market and move on to international. Over the course of three years, ICBC has released loans of more than RMB 3 billion to support Dongfang Turbine.

Loans for reconstruction projects are usually in large amount, long repayment period and difficult to manage to a certain extent. Henceforth, ICBC focuses on the management after lending. Management of loans to reconstruction of housing is an example. ICBC set up a task force to make on-site visits, regularly or irregularly, to check the status of the property pledged or guaranteed under the loans and the progress of the projects. Photos were also taken for filing.

While increasing lending to the disaster areas, ICBC targets its lending to support the industry restructuring in the affected areas. ICBC seizes the opportunity that Chengdu was approved by the State Council included in the first batch of pilot reform cities targeting coordinated rural and urban development through reforms in all sectors. A regional lending policy is spelled out to push the development of the pilot city. To promote the stable and sustainable development in Sichuan and in line with the State's Overall Planning in the Reconstruction and Recovery after Wenchuan Earthquake, ICBC picks up quality projects such as key projects on infrastructure, key industries, key project related to people living, social work in the next three years in Sichuan as the target recipients of ICBC loans. Besides, ICBC actively supports the key projects and top enterprises under the State's industry policy and eligible conditions. More loans will be released to enterprises in Sichuan's transportation, electric power, urban construction, petrochemical, telecommunication and heavy equipment. To increase financial support to small-and-medium enterprises, ICBC has established a Financial Department for Small Enterprises in Sichuan Branch and set up 54 banking offices in Sichuan dedicated to offer financial services to affected small enterprises in Chengdu, Deyang and Mianyang. ICBC made its own contribution to the restructuring of the disaster area's economy.