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, 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 48.6 billion with an outstanding balance of RMB 38.2 billion. The loans offered strong financial support to the recovery and reflected ICBC commitment of a large commercial bank to carry out its social responsibility.

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. The first priority of ICBC was to continue the service at this critical moment. "Canvas Bank", "Slab Bank", "Bank on the move" were some of the ICBC creative ‘banks' set up under extremely difficult conditions to provide the basic services for customers to deposit/draw money or transfer, and to ensure  financial support services for the quake relief. ICBC also established the first off-the-bank self-service bank equipped with self-service devices for deposit/withdrawal, telephone banking terminals and computers for Internet Banking. Within 1 month after the disaster, 100% of ICBC outlets in Sichuan were open to business.

All these "Canvas Bank" and "Slab Bank" have completed their historical mission as the reconstruction progressed accordingly. What replacing them are the fully-equipped modern outlets and self-service banking. By the end of April, 2010 after nearly two years of renovation and reconstruction, ICBC network in Sichuan comprises of 59 new outlets, 21 new off-the-bank self-service banks, 8 outlets relocated and re-built in the hardest-hit areas. Total devices installed in the quake area are 376 ATM, 280 internet banking self-service devices, 313 non-cash self-service terminals and 4680 POS. One point, ICBC specially built new subsidiaries in devastating Beichuan and Qingchuan of Sichuan to offer greater accessibility of banking services to the people living there and relief work. 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.

Smooth process for the disbursement of relief funds

ICBC opened the financial green channel in the immediate aftermath to ensure the disbursement for relief funds and social donations were in place. ICBC electronic channel was a case in point. ICBC 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 of 190,000 donations were sent to 161 charity organizations in 29 provinces/cities through ICBC electronic banking. The donations were a great support to the earthquake relief.

ICBC undertook the heavy responsibility in the disbursement for the reconstruction and recovery funds. A total of 347 ICBC special accounts were set up in Sichuan as of today, involving an amount of nearly RMB 16.727 billion. Each disbursement was credited into the account on time under the excellent service of ICBC.

Disbursement of relief funds required high standard of service because of the wide area of coverage, huge group of people involved and no-delay nature of the demand. An example would be the donations to China Charity Federation and Red Cross Society of China which must be disbursed as scheduled without missing a second and errors. This was a job of long cycle asking for high accuracy and timeliness. Henceforth, ICBC took the initiative to talk with the two 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. ICBC payment system became the artery for carrying all the funds to the disastrous area and reconstruction projects.

Meanwhile, 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 Beichuan Sub-branch attached high importance on the job. Dedicated staff and counter 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 Economical Structural Adjustment by Lending

When the Wenchuan earthquake broke out, ICBC immediately started the emergency process and "green channel" for reconstruction loans. Special procedures were adopted. ICBC provided loans to sectors of electric power, telecommunication, highway and railways in the shortest span. 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 and 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 based on the principle of "lend to the needed, best service, innovative and creative". ICBC pulled out all efforts to support the reconstruction and helped the affected enterprises and victims to get over the difficulty. Under the new policy of "No pressing for repayment, no penalty interest, no bad record, no impact on application of other relief loan", affected enterprises that cannot repay as scheduled were allowed to apply for loan again, extend the loan or adjust the repayment plan. When applying again or extending the loan, they were not restricted in new application or single loan limit approval. Depending on the application, a grace period of not longer than 6 months was given to affected individuals who were in the process of repaying the loan. During the grace period, they have the options of "repay the interest only, no principal repaid" or "no repayment on principal and interest".

Meanwhile, ICBC took the initiative to contact the concerned government departments in the disaster areas and affected enterprises to understand their need of funds and reconstruction projects. Favorable conditions on new application, loan tenure, loan rate and guarantee were given under controllable risk. Shorter approval process, priority lending to reconstruction were the measures taken to ensure loans were released in time for the purpose.

Dongfang Turbine Co. Ltd was one of the large enterprises badly damaged by the earthquake. The company returned to production soon with the great support from ICBC. Since the quake struck, a lot of equipment in Dongfang Turbine'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 two years, ICBC has released loans of more than RMB 3 billion to support Dongfang Turbine.

Loans for reconstruction projects were usually in large amount, long repayment period and difficult to manage to a certain extent. To ensure the loans were used for the purpose, ICBC focus on the management after lending. Loans to reconstruction of housing were an example. ICBC set up a leadership group to manage the loans released to the reconstruction of damaged houses in the quake-hit city/town, and a task force to manage the loans released to damaged houses project. On-site visits, regularly or irregularly, were carried out to check the status of the property pledged or guaranteed under the loans and the progress of the projects. Photos were taken for filing. Current situation of the reconstruction loans is that they are under good control, no bad loans. The overall objective of "Good Lending, Good Management, Good Collection" is achieved.

While increasing lending to the disaster areas, ICBC targets its lending to support the reform and upgrade in response to the State's policy of "speed up reconstruction, maintain growth, expand internal consumption, make structural adjustments". 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. More loans will be released to enterprises in Sichuan's transportation, electric power, urban construction, petrochemical, telecommunication and heavy equipment. A Small Enterprises Financial Department is established together with 54 subsidiaries in the country dedicated to offer financial services to small enterprises. In light of this, ICBC has provided financial support to affected small enterprises in Chengdu, Deyang, Mianyang and RMB 3.938 billion to support the housing construction under "Damaged Houses Reconstruction Project". By the end of April this year, ICBC has an outstanding loan balance of RMB 38.2 billion for Sichuan reconstruction and released loans up to RMB 48.6 billion in total.