On July 13, ICBC and China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE) entered into a special cooperation agreement for the "One Belt and One Road" strategy, under which they would launch ten new bancassurance financial services, step up financial support to the "One Belt and One Road" initiative, and help Chinese enterprises go global. The ten innovative services include investment and financing for PPP projects, structured financing for bulk commodities, financing for sub-sovereign guarantee projects, local-currency export credit, bond issues under SINOSURE, leasing-insurance combined products, short-term trade finance under SINOSURE, cross-border investment & financing guarantee, cross-border supply chain finance, and risk management services.

According to the agreement, ICBC and SINOSURE will focus on strengthening market development in targeted countries (areas) along the "One Belt and One Road" region, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, and for the “Three Networks and One Industrialization (high-speed railway network, expressway network, regional aviation network & infrastructure industrialization)” strategy for African countries; vigorously support the internationalization of high-end equipments including high-speed rails, nuclear power and telecommunication as well as international capacity cooperation.

An ICBC official said that the bilateral cooperation centered on jointly developing country-specific regional markets, acquiring information on market projects at the source, and properly designing investment plans, financing conditions and guarantee structures, in a bid to help financial institutions transform their business models from following enterprises going global to guiding enterprises to go global. Under the “follower” model, enterprises have to secure overseas projects before seeking financing from banks or guarantees from credit insurers. However, this model may beget the problems of insufficient initial planning for project investment and financing, irrational financing conditions or guarantee structure, and faulty risk management measures, which makes it impossible to meet the financing requirements of banks or underwriting requirements of credit insurers, and hence requires financing and insurance issues be reviewed and straightened out. In addition, when seeking opportunities in overseas markets, enterprises usually rely on local agents or middlemen, putting them at a disadvantage in negotiations with overseas owners. But the cooperation in regional markets development as proposed by ICBC and SINOSURE this time can draw on the Bank’s advantages of its global network, extensive cooperation resources of correspondent banks, and the resources of the insurer as a policy insurance company. By tapping overseas markets and providing comprehensive financial solutions to foreign governments and enterprises, they can assist them with project planning, and formulation of investment and financing plans, and risk management measures, and recommend Chinese enterprises to participate in investment or EPC. This model highlights the role of the Bank and the credit insurer in “guiding” enterprises to “go global”, and helps to facilitate and accelerate the “One Belt and One Road” initiative.

SINOSURE is a policy insurance company specialized in export credit insurance business, and has actively contributed to China’s development of foreign trade and economic cooperation. So far, it has supported foreign trade and investment worth USD 1.96 trillion, helped enterprises obtain RMB 2.2 trillion in bank financing, insured domestic enterprises for export to and investment and contracting projects in countries along the “One Belt and One Road” in the amount of USD 534.871 billion, and paid indemnity of USD 1.625 billion. According to an official of SINOSURE, its cooperation with ICBC could date back to 2002, when they jointly provided insurance and financing services to a Chinese enterprise’s export project in Zambia. Now they have expanded bilateral cooperation to the areas of trade finance, project financing and overseas investment. In recent years, ICBC has provided all-round financial services to Chinese enterprises “going global” and the “One Belt and One Road” strategy, by fully exerting the advantages of its global service network as a comprehensive banking group. Currently, its overseas network has expanded to 42 countries and regions worldwide and 20 African countries by holding a stake in Standard Bank. By the end of June, ICBC has supported 142 “going global” projects of Chinese enterprises, and granted total loans of USD 31.3 billion. Along the “|One Belt and One Road” region, the Bank has established 120 branches and sub-branches in 18 countries, supporting 81 “One Belt and One Road” projects and providing funding of USD 11.6 billion in total.