On May 14, at the parallel meeting themed Promoting Financial Connectivity of the Belt and Road International Cooperation Forum, Mr. Yi Huiman, Chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), said that ICBC will work with other stakeholders to boost normalized cooperation mechanism for banks along the Belt and Road route, encourage multi-channel fund flow into the Belt and Road construction, consistently raise efficiency of financial services and provide stronger financial support for the Belt and Road Initiative.

According to Chairman Yi Huiman, banks have provided strong financial support for the Belt and Road Initiative through financing and other means in the past three years. Financial institutions such as policy-based banks, commercial banks and equity investment funds have been exploring methods to play out financing functions and seize opportunities to boost growth. However, countries along the route are at different development stages with different regulatory and legal environments. Therefore, the banking sector faces serious problems such as information gap which affect the efficiency of financial services. In response, ICBC established the round-table conference platform for the Belt and Road banks and held the preparation meeting in April, well received by dozens of banks worldwide. ICBC will take the opportunity of the Belt and Road international cooperation forum to accelerate  normalized cooperation mechanism for banks along the route, strengthen cooperation with international peers in areas of investment/financing, asset and liability cross-currency risk aversion, international settlement and clearing, enhance the efficiency of the entire banking sector’s services and better promote the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Chairman Yi Huiman said that ICBC has actively explored financing and provided full-suite financial services to support the Belt and Road Initiative. By the end of Q1, ICBC had 127 branches in 18 countries and territories along the route, participated in 212 projects on the principles of marketization, commercialization and sustainability, and issued loans of USD 67.4 billion with strong risk control. In addition, ICBC has strengthened cooperation with policy-based financial institutions, non-banking institutions and international peers, and expanded diversified fund sources for the Belt and Road construction through various methods including syndicated loans and bonds.