On December 6, the first Village Bank initiated by ICBC Zhejiang Pinghu ICBC Village Bank, was officially opened to public in Pinghu City, Zhejiang province. Leaders at the opening ceremony were: ICBC Vice President Yi Huiman, Deputy Secretary General of Zhejiang Provincial Government Chen Guoping, leaders from Party Committee and municipal governments of Jiaxing City and Pinghu City and leaders from People's Bank of China, Zhejiang Banking Regulatory Commission.
Industry insiders believe that ICBC, being the world's largest commercial bank in terms of market value and deposit base, the unswerving drive of ICBC to put into the practice of State's policy of "Financial Support to agriculture" and participating in the pilot of establishing new village bank is definitely a move to raise the financial services standard in rural areas, but also a strong support to boost the development of rural economy.
Zhejiang Pinghu ICBC Village Bank is a banking financial institution of independent body corporate. ICBC is the main initiator with 7 companies as the co-initiators including Pinghu City State-owned Asset Operation Co. Ltd, Zhejiang Chenguang Cable Co. Ltd. Zhejiang Pinghu ICBC Village Bank has a registered capital of RMB 200 million, where 60% is contributed by ICBC.
In recent years, ICBC has stepped up its efforts in supporting rural economy development under the spirit of State's policy of "financial support to agriculture" and the working requirements laid down by China Banking Regulatory Commission on "setting up new type of village banking institution by commercial bank in rural areas and the support in the development of county districts".
ICBC starts to build up its outlet service capacity in county districts, renovate the outlets and optimize the outlet distribution layout. Efforts have been paid in the innovation of financial products and service options and attempts have been made to find the most suitable lending model to farmers in the local areas.
ICBC will definitely raise its standard for providing financial services to rural farmers through participation in the setting up of new type of village banking institution as a village bank.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, ICBC Vice President Yi Huiman remarked that ICBC has been committed to provide quality financial services to customers in county districts and rural areas. ICBC all the while has followed the business philosophy and action standard in supporting the coordinated development of urban-rural economic society.
This was also the social responsibility that a large listed bank as ICBC should devote to. Zhejiang Pinghu ICBC Village Bank is the first village bank set up by ICBC as a shareholding joint-venture bank, and is also the first attempt by ICBC in innovating and exploring new ways of operations. Under the service principle of "Benefit the farmers, small enterprise and the public", ICBC Village Bank with its base in Pinghu will serve all the customers in the area and develop financial products targeting at small-and-medium enterprises, individual proprietary owners and farmers as a step-up support to the development of county economy and new villages.
On behalf of the municipal government, Mayor of Pinghu City Weng Jianrong congratulated ICBC in the opening of its Pinghu ICBC Village Bank. Mr. Weng stated that the inception of Pinghu ICBC Village Bank is definitely a helping hand to solve the issue of the difficulty in obtaining a loan and improve the financial environment in the area by its flexible banking processes, highly efficient decision-making and wide coverage of services.
Pinghu ICBC Village Bank is a new vibrant force to the development of Pinghu social economy and opens new vista for rural financial services in Pinghu. Municipal government will provide all the support and services to Pinghu ICBC Village Bank to spread its wings in Pinghu.
In her statement to the reporters, Chairman of the Board of Pinghu ICBC Village Bank Ms. Fu Zuyuan stated that the village bank is committed to the "Agriculture-countryside-farmer" service and will be "A Pinghu Bank, A Reliable Bank" with its own advantages of being a village bank to offer services in line with the local economy.
The Bank will contribute its own role to the development of Pinghu social economy and new rural villages. She expressed that Pinghu ICBC Village Bank will develop series of products that cater to the market needs and adopt flexible pricing methodology under applicable loan policy in order to meet the needs of customers typical in Pinghu in getting "urgent and short-term" loan.
As of now, Pinghu ICBC Village Bank already rolled out an array of characteristic financial products such as "one-day loan through housing mortgage", petty loan to subsidize farmers to get rich and joint-guarantee loan.
During the opening ceremony, Zhejiang Pinghu ICBC Village Bank on the spot entered co-operation agreements with 10 companies in Pinghu including Pinghu City Southern Metal Wire Factory, Zhejiang Hongjian Construction Co. Ltd.
