On the morning of January 20, a plaque unveiling ceremony was held by CCB Trust Co., Ltd. (“CCB Trust”) in Hefei, Anhui Province. The plague was unveiled by Mr Xie Duyang, chairman of the board of supervisors of China Construction Bank Corporation (“CCB”) and Mr Wu Cunrong, deputy secretary of Hefei Municipal Party Committee and mayor of Hefei. Orations and addresses were given respectively by Mr. Xie, Mayor Wu and Mr Zeng Jianze, chairman of CCB Trust. Officiating the ceremony was Mr Cheng Shuangqi, president of CCB Trust.
With the approval of China Banking Regulatory Commission, CCB has injected capital into Hefei Xingtai Trust Co. Ltd. (“Hefei Xingtai Trust”) and became its controlling shareholder. The company was subsequently renamed CCB Trust with CCB, Hefei Xingtai Holding Group Corporation Limited and Hefei Municipal State-owned Assets Holding Corporation holding respectively 67%, 27.5% and 5.5% of its shares. This is a major result of the mutually beneficial cooperation among CCB, Hefei Municipal Party Committee and Heifei Municipal Government.
In his address, Mr. Xie spoke highly of this strategic cooperation among the three parties. He pointed out that the establishment of CCB Trust would propel CCB's integrated services to new heights and would further enhance its innovative capability. He exhorted that, in holding fast to the target of becoming a first-class trust company, CCB Trust should fortify its own set-up, operate in compliance with laws and regulations, pay attention to preventing risks, focus on developing innovative products, quicken the pace of its business development and strive to explore the optimum mode of development for a bank-related trust company. This way, it would then be in a position of providing supports and services for the better and quicker growth of the national economy. CCB would give full support to the development and expansion of CCB Trust.
Mayor Wu said in his speech that the rapid economic and social development of Hefei in recent years was attributable to the strong supports and effective services provided by various financial institutions. CCB’s acquiring a controlling stake in Hefei Xingtai Trust and restructuring it into one of the strongest trust companies in China is not only an unprecedented move and a vivid manifestation of a sincere and mutually beneficial cooperation. It is also a major decision on the part of Hefei Municipal Party Committee and Hefei Municipal Government in implementing the strategic planning of Anhui Provincial Party Committee and Anhui Province Government to establish Hefei as a regional financial centre.
Mr. Zeng said in his address that, in accordance with the requirements set by CCB, Hefei Municipal Party Committee, Hefei Municipal Government and the regulatory bodies, CCB Trust would actively identify a profit-generating model and a development road-map specific to a trust company with banking backgrounds, thereby contributing to national and local economic and social development. He vowed that CCB Trust will endeavour to become a first-class trust company in China within three years.
In recent years, with the accelerated growth of the Chinese economy, the demands for financial services from individual and corporate customers have become so diversified and differentiated that they have gone far beyond the scope of traditional commercial banks in making payments and settlements, accepting savings and extending loans. In fact, China’s banking sector is facing the new challenge of “financial disintermediation". In actively pursuing the “customer-focused” operating philosophy and under the conditions of managing risks stringently and establishing a risk “fire-wall”, CCB has taken the lead in adapting to the trends and searching for possible routes of development for the group as a whole. The founding of CCB Trust symbolises yet another milestone on the part of CCB in further expanding its financial service functions, in relentlessly exploring new points of growth and in seeking continual development in its capacity as China's first major commercial bank in being granted a trust business licence on the heels of its having established CCB Principal Asset Management and CCB Financial Leasing.
Hefei is a provincial city with the highest rate of economic growth in China. In putting the “scientific viewpoint of development” into practice, Hefei Municipal Party Committee and Hefei Municipal Government have been spending major efforts in implementing the strategy of developing the city into a regional financial centre. In doing so, they have been adventurous enough in breaking away from the constraints of regionalism and have created actively an environment to attract outside investors. By inviting CCB as a strategic investor in a trust company, they have not only succeeded in catapulting a regional financial institution to the rest of the country and in raising the image of Hefei in the national financial arena. They have also provided a prime example for other powerful financial institutions to invest in Hefei, thus facilitating the better and faster growth of the city’s economy.
During the plaque unveiling ceremony, Mr Sun Jinlong, member of the Standing Committee of Anhui Provincial Party Committee and secretary of Hefei Municipal Party Committee, and Mr Sun Zhigang, member of the Standing Committee of Anhui Provincial Party Committee and executive deputy governor of Anhui have respectively greeted Messrs Xie, Wu, Zeng and other guests. Also attending the ceremony were representatives from relevant government departments of Anhui Province and Hefei, CCB Headquarters, Association of Anhui Bank, shareholder entities, financial institutions stationing in Hefei, and other municipal enterprises as well as customers.
