Guo Shuqing Stresses Implementing the Scientific Concept of Development, Changing Business Growth Model and Enhancing Competitiveness and Profitability at CCB Working Conference

From January 23 to 25, CCB held the first working conference in Shijiazhuang since its IPO, reviewing its business performance in 2005 and planning business objectives and tasks in 2006. Guo Shuqing, Chairman of CCB, stressed at the conference that 2006 is the first year for CCB to go through the test of the international capital market since its IPO and a critical year for the bank to build a sound corporate image as a listed company in both the Chinese and overseas markets. A stronger sense of mission and responsibility should be established throughout the bank and a higher starting point and standards should be set to accelerate reform, ensure the completion of various tasks and business objectives and work hard to reach the strategic vision of CCB.

Speaking at the conference, Chang Zhenming, President of CCB, reviewed the business performance of the bank last year and introduced the business objectives and tasks this year. It is said that in 2005 CCB’s reform and development achieved great breakthroughs. Following the “customer-centric” business philosophy and mechanism, the bank improved services comprehensively, scored healthy business development and stable growth of profit, strengthened financial position, introduced strategic investors, completed the IPO, hit several records in the international capital market, moved the institutional reforms ahead steadily, upgraded the corporate governance structure, reinforced risk management and internal control capacities, achieved clear results of the special rectification campaigns, made major progress of technological development and financial innovation and successfully ended the education campaign to preserve the advanced nature of CPC members, with all staffs taking on a completely new look.

Guo Shuqing noted that in 2005 CCB initially established the modern bank governance structure, completed overseas IPO and set sail in the international capital market as a new public company. This working conference marks a new starting point. As a public company with investors from all over the world, CCB will directly feel the pressure of making return on the investment of over 200,000 shareholders at home and abroad and the stress of standardizing operation, raising asset quality, increasing service efficiency and improving management. It is necessary to implement the spirit of the central economic working conference and the scientific concept of development, change the business growth model, focus on customer and market needs, deepen reform, improve mechanisms, reinforce management, raise efficiency and build up the competitiveness and profitability.

When introducing the 2006 work plan, Guo Shuqing emphasized that marketing should be strengthened to realize stable growth of revenue. The weak links of marketing should be improved, which in essence requires institutional transformation and changing people’s mindset. The key to good marketing is to understand the core interest of customers, meet their most urgent needs, solve the problems which they feel concerned about most and realize a win-win outcome for both the customers and the bank. Successful marketing cases of Chinese and foreign companies should be carefully studied throughout the bank and such studies should become a habit and a component of CCB’s culture. The business process should be reviewed truly from the perspective of customers and the existing business process be upgraded comprehensively, with focus on cutting costs of customers, meeting their diversified needs and raising transaction processing capacity and efficiency so as to expand business, control and minimize various risks and provide customers with better services. Basic management should be improved to uplift the operational level. International standards and managerial rules should be adopted to strengthen the internal control system, information, quality and post-credit management. The risk management system reform should be deepened to raise asset quality stably. Learning experiences from the pilot projects last year, the risk management system reform will be launched throughout the bank with the purpose of building a concentrated and vertical risk management system covering all the potential risks faced by commercial banks. An effective internal control and operation mechanism to balance risks and return should be set up. Institutional reform should be pushed ahead to increase the market responsiveness and management efficiency and establish an organizational structure which is really “customer-centric”, adaptive to the financial environment and beneficial to business development and creating value. The incentive and discipline mechanism should be established, human resources allocation system be improved, staff salary system be optimized and training be strengthened to enhance the quality and capacity of staffs to fulfill their functions. The information system should be updated to add to business competitiveness. Coordination with such strategic investors as the Bank of America should be reinforced to raise the business performance of key sectors.

Talking about improving the organizational leadership, Guo stressed that to complete the tasks this year and increase asset quality and business performance steadily great efforts must be made to raise the strategic management capacity, improve the corporate governance structure, reinforce Party organizational construction and build a harmonious CCB and various positive factors should be mobilized to support the reform and growth of the bank.