During the process of satisfying the demands of clients on diversified individualized financial services in the first half of this year, ICBC was keeping accelerating the combination of innovation and market expansion, enhancing market competitiveness and sustainable development ability by innovation, and taking innovation as the main power driving its continuous profit growth in the adverse environment. As a result, ICBC made a great achievement.
ICBC speeds up establishing and perfecting product innovation management system since this year. It has set Product Innovation Departments in 7 branches distributed in several regions including Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang and brought into full play the roles of key branches as regional product R & D centers and product innovation demonstration banks.
According to actual demands in the market, through introduction and R & D of new products as well as design of product combinations meeting the demands of clients on comprehensive services, ICBC invested in a number of key products with great market potentials and strong market competitiveness in the first half of this year.
In addition, it introduced 320 varieties of new financial products during the period. By far ICBC boasts 2,375 varieties of financial products, representing 15% growth in comparison with the end of 2008. ICBC is a domestic commercial bank with the most varieties of financial products and the strongest innovation ability.
Persistent product innovation has not only strikingly enhanced the service supply ability of ICBC and formed its unique operation features, but also increased the sources of incomes and further optimized income structure. In the first half of this year, ICBC's investment banking, debt financing tool underwriting, corporate financing and other emerging business were developing rapidly and becoming key profit growth points.
In investment banking business, ICBC has realized total incomes of RMB 7.143 billions, representing a year-on-year growth of 48.1%; the percentage of incomes of this field in total incomes from intermediate business has risen to about 25% that was the highest in the industry in China. As to the expansion of investment banking business, ICBC actively innovated within relevant laws and regulations, made great effort to develop acquirement consultation service business and positively promoted "financing + consultation" comprehensive acquirement service solution among enterprises.
In syndicated loan business, the business of underwriting and management of ICBC's syndicated loan realized incomes of RMB 0.443 billons in total in the period, representing a year-on-year growth of 58.8%.
Meanwhile, ICBC was pushing for innovation of underwriting business of debt financing tools with strong business growth momentum. In the first half of this year, ICBC successfully completed 100 underwriting and distribution projects in total including 36 non-financial corporate debt financing and financial bond issuance projects such as underwriting of short-term financing bonds and middle-term notes as a leading underwriter as well as 64 underwriting projects as a member of underwriting syndicates.
During the period ICBC's issuance volume of underwriting business initiated by ICBC reached RMB 142.4 billons, representing a year-on-year growth of 140%. Of them, the total issuance volume of non-financial corporate debt financing projects such as short-term financing bonds and middle-term notes reached RMB 139.
4 billions, accounting for 24% of total issuance volume in the market. Accordingly ICBC has further enhanced its leading mark.
In corporate financing business, ICBC newly presented smart express flexible extra short-term financing product, 28-day rolling corporate financing product and RMB structure deposit for mid and small-scale enterprises so as to fully satisfy the demands of corporate clients on financing with short-term idle funds.
During the period, the sale volume of ICBC's corporate financing products reached RMB 688.8 billions, representing 144% growth in comparison with the same period of the last year. ICBC's incomes from corporate financing business reached RMB 1.836 billions, increasing 25.9% compared with the same period of the last year while it helped enterprises realize fund appreciation.
ICBC's products and business innovations all depend on the great support and drive force of technological innovations. In the first half of this year, ICBC continued to show its strong technological strength and domestically leading IT advantage, insisted on dependent innovation, speeded up conversion of IT advantages into current market competitiveness, accelerated the fourth generation of technological application system construction meeting the demands on the comprehensive internationalization development in the future as well as supported the establishments of new operation mechanism and business mode.
A number of key projects including client information integration, credit card information integration and Internet Banking application reconstruction have made phase outcomes, and overseas full-functional banking systems have been put into use in many overseas institutions.
In addition, ICBC combines tackling the issues existing in current operation and development as well as deepening system reform so as to lay a new foundation for future development at a higher level while it enhances the ability to meet today's challenges. Since this year, ICBC has been starting up deep-level reforms consecutively at all fields and all layers, and made primary achievements. For instance, ICBC speeds up business operation reforms that take the reforms of supervision system, remote authorization, and centralized business handling as main contents, the reform of centralized management for various statements within the bank, as well as the constructions of backstage business center like E-banking center, credit card telephone service center and bill center. An intensive, efficient business handling and management backstage has been forming with low cost and effect supervision. Furthermore, ICBC's financial market management system reform has been completed in an all round way, and self-support business and agency business have been separated totally so as to create a condition of system for enhancing efficiency and benefit of fund operation and boosting great development of asset management business. All these revolutions on key fields and links offer new power and energy for the operation and development of ICBC.
