Beginning from this year, ICBC has moved aggressively in building up joint efforts with many rural financial institutions. ICBC leverages on the technical and product competitive advantage to lend technological and business support to the rural financial institutions via the Bank-Bank platform or agency relationship to enhance their service capacity, and push the prosperity of financial services for "agriculture, farmers and rural areas".
As related, the Bank-Bank platform between ICBC and partner banks enables inter-connectivity of business systems from both sides. Through the platform, partner banks can deliver to customers the ICBC's products and services such as payment and settlement, cash management, investment and wealth management.
ICBC provides a basket of services to the partner banks including back office clearing, risk management, as well as technology and management experience depending on their requirements. Both sides can also share the outlets resources and act as agency to each other. ICBC has announced the partnership with a number of rural financial institutions.
Businesses of both sides are running smoothly. Just within the week of Dec. 6-12, Hebei Xingtai Rural Credit Union, Xingtai County Rural Credit Union were two of the eight institutions that ICBC has signed Bank-Bank partnership agreements with. The Bank-Bank platform offers convenient access for customers of these rural financial institutions to use ICBC services of the third party depositary, account gold, direct remittances and others.
The partnership brings a wider range of financial services and products to the rural institutions and broader coverage of rural finance.
Aided by the Bank-Bank platform, ICBC also launches the "Counter Link" service in collaboration with a provincial rural credit cooperatives association. Information technology has made it possible for both sides to share the outlet resources, offering real-time access to customers from both sides to use bank card or passbook to draw or deposit cash at any outlet of both sides. The new service adds one more channel for rural customers to deposit/draw cash or make transfer. "Counter Link" service has witnessed steady growth in transaction volume since its pilot this year.
Meanwhile, ICBC has set up agency bank relationship with numerous rural commercial banks, rural cooperative banks and rural credit cooperatives, providing them the settlement and treasury support, and the modern clearing services by taking full advantages of its developed clearing network and outlets spanning across the country.
ICBC also embarks programs to work closely with these rural financial institutions in technological area. As a result, a suite of modern financial products such as bank card, ATM machines, electronic banking are launched to the rural villages through the network information technology and modern management means, contributing the strong growth of the county-level finance and letting all the customers in rural villages enjoy more economical and convenient financial services.
