Since January this year, ICBC continues making aggressive move on its cash management business, with emphasis on professional services and market expansion in a bid to build a solid customer base. By end-June this year, ICBC secured more than 600,000 cash management customers, or an increase of nearly 20% over the end of previous year. ICBC holds on to the top spot in domestic ranking and reinforces its "No. 1 cash management bank" in China.

An executive with ICBC said, in cash management, today the Bank has created a comprehensive service offering encompassing centralized collection/disbursement, account management, liquidity management, money accumulation, supply chain finance and risk management, and launched 60+ categories of cash management products including cash pool in home and foreign currency, bill pool, Butler Service for Cash Receipts and account messenging. Cash pool is a cash management product worthy of note. ICBC not only owns the intellectual property right of the product, but receives 4 national patents for the innovations in several areas: the real-time processing of cash flow in a Group, sharing of company funds, balance adjustment.

ICBC also embraces service sophistication while enriching its product offering. By integrating the business characteristics of the customers engaged in their respective fields, ICBC offers tailored, integrated, diversified cash management solutions to every customer, from cash management within the corporate group to cash flow control in the upstream/downstream companies, from RMB cash management to FX cash management.

In response to the increasing demand of customers for global and regional cash management, ICBC being the first commercial bank in China to launch global cash management service, offers a basket of cross-border cash management services to multinational corporate clients worldwide through its independently developed global cash management service system and a global network of branches and correspondent banks. Customers only need to "click" to enjoy all the "one-stop" global cash management services. ICBC has the most number of contracting enterprises among Chinese banks by securing 1,508 customers signed global cash management agreements with the Bank by end of June. ICBC offers strong support to a number of top-quality multinational companies.

Today, ICBC has built an extensive network of 16,000+ banking offices in China, 220 overseas subsidiaries and 1,516 corresponding banks in 134 countries. Besides, ICBC steps up its effort in forming partnership with other banks. Service scope is expanded via the cash management cooperation with 20+ overseas banks. This year, ICBC set up Asia Pacific Cash Management Center in Hong Kong in an effort to innovate the delivery of cash management service, especially moving the global cash management service to regional for faster response and collaboration. This new service architecture in Asia Pacific places ICBC's head office, regional center and overseas subsidiaries under one roof.

While the physical network of branches and correspondent banks is gradually in place, the IT platform of ICBC spanning across the borders provides assurance for the improvement on cash management service. Through continuous optimization on the independently developed global cash management system, ICBC has set up a multi-banking, multi-currency, multi-lingual system and electronic banking platform to support all the domestic and overseas branches across different time zones. Besides, through this new global cash management system for direct connectivity with the foreign banks' host machines or SWIFT network, ICBC is building a comprehensive service network for customers. For example, the "inter-connected systems, link-up steps" China-Africa cash management platform jointly set up by ICBC and Standard Bank is aimed at increasing ICBC's capability in providing cash management service across the globe through direct connectivity between China and Africa.

The ICBC executive also pointed out that more and more companies start to focus on the liquidity management and risk management worldwide, and exercise more control on the funds operation in a Group. This offers a good opportunity for ICBC to loom large its cash management business. In the next phase, ICBC remains customer-focused. Backed by the solid customer base and vast resources, ICBC will continue the effort on innovation, business implementation process, supply chain cash management, investment and financing services. The goal is to provide professional, convenient, integrated, top-quality cash management services to all customers.

Background

Cash Management Business

Cash management represents a range of comprehensive solutions and services provided to customers to manage their liquidity. Through cash management system, banks use different product combinations to organic combine account management, collection/disbursement, financing, wealth management, risk management and information services, helping customers achieve the purposes of improving earnings, reducing financial cost. Key to cash management is liquidity management.

Over the course of more than three decades, cash management being a mature financial service in international banks, is now one of the major intermediary services of US and European banks offered to top-quality companies. Over the past few years, cash management business in China has witnessed fast growth since its first introduction by US and European banks to China in 1999. Nearly all nationwide commercial banks in China roll out own brand of cash management products. To banks, cash management service is no longer a simple collection and disbursement service, but a tailored cash management solution to customers, which includes a range of integrated services for customers to manage and plan the inflow, outflow and existing cash. Cash management is a financial service to help customers maximize benefits under good liquidity and now becomes an important tool for banks to compete for high-end companies and institutional customers.

ICBC is the earliest Chinese bank to open cash management service. As early as in 1998, ICBC was the first commercial bank in the country to adopt online settlement, a new type of settlement option. ICBC provided services to large enterprises on remittance/payment of sales revenue. This was the first model. In 2002, ICBC drew experience from overseas banks and launched cash management service in China based on online settlement and electronic banking. In 2005, ICBC rolled out "Caizhi Account" - a main brand of ICBC cash management. In 2006, ICBC was the first among the domestic peers to set up the Settlement and Cash Management Department, a department dedicated to the research and development of cash management products and market promotion. In 2007, ICBC took off a blistering innovation program on its cash management business. In view of the different business requirements, characteristics of different industries, ICBC launched 10 cash management solutions and solutions for 11 industries. Cash management shifted from a unitary product/service to integrated solutions. To lift up the brand of cash management service, in 2008 ICBC embarked on a program of accelerated upgrade through the launch of competitive products, namely cash pool in home and foreign currency, supply chain finance, Group account. In 2009, ICBC was the first bank in China to launch global cash management service by dint of its independently developed new generation global cash management system, offering safe and convenient services to multinational corporations in the management of global account, collection and disbursement, as well as risk management. The global cash management service of ICBC adapted to the needs of its clients for unified management and allocation of company funds across the borders, between different banks and in different currencies.

Through innovations over the years, ICBC has created a comprehensive product offering in cash management, covering 60+ main products and services under five service categories: collection, disbursement, account management, liquidity management, risk management, which can be accessed via ICBC counter, electronic banking or bank card. Meanwhile, depending on the requirements and service categories, ICBC offers ten types of account management solutions to corporate clients, including centralized payment, cash pool, collection, temporary finance, risk management, short-term investment, supply chain finance, centralized management of FX funds, and electronic banking. ICBC also integrates one product or function and proposes tailored, integrated cash management solutions to customers, keeping in mind the different business requirements and characteristics of different industries. In 2010, ICBC rolled out cash management solutions for 8 hot industries in a bid to draw its cash management service offering closer to the market needs.

In enriching the product offering and transaction volume are set to gather further momentum, ICBC continues spending effort in widening the business scope of cash management, improving the quality of service and expanding the service content. ICBC ensures high degree of customized delivery in cash management from serving the internal of a company to its funding chain, from simple collections and disbursements, centralized management of cash resources to integrated wealth management, from domestic cash management to global cash management. ICBC has established a strong image of cash management service expert in all industries.

With the significant enhancement in service capacity, ICBC has gained wide recognition and raised its brand influence in the market for its superior cash management service. The Bank has been respected by international professional organizations and industries and received numerous acclaims. ICBC was named "Best Cash Management Bank in China" by The Assets (HK) for five consecutive years from 2007 to 2011. For four years in succession from 2007 to 2010 ICBC has been named "Best Cash Management Bank in China" by Finance Asia. ICBC was awarded thrice "Best RMB Cash Management Services (China)" from Asiamoney in 2006, 2008 and 2009 respectively.