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Supplement: Bank of China seeking excellent and sustainable growth
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-04 15:53 Established in 1912, Bank of China (BOC) is the only bank that has specialized in foreign exchange and foreign trade for such a long period of time. In April 1979, the State Council accredited BOC as a bank specialized in foreign exchange to uniformly operate and administrate foreign exchange business, further highlighting the bank's specialization in foreign exchange and trade. Over the past 30 years, BOC has been at the forefront of China's reform and open policy making. It constantly emancipates the mind, seeking truth from fact, boldly pursuing innovation and tries to build internationally top-class bank and keeps pace with the great undertaking of China’s reform and opening up. Especially in the recent 5 years, under the guide of the Scientific Outlook of Development, BOC has catapulted forward in business, developing into the only financial group simultaneously in a number of business fields including: commercial banking, investment banking, insurance, direct investment, asset management, fund management, and leasing amongst their domestic peers. In late 2007, the total assets of BOC amounted to 5,995.5 billion yuan, a growth of 50.64 percent from late 2003. It has even been designated as a "Fortune 500" enterprise by Fortune Magazine for 18 years in a row, additionally being appraised as the "Best Chinese Bank" and "Best Chinese Domestic Bank" by Euromoney for 8 consecutive times. The owners' equity amounts to 424.7 billion yuan, and the market value amounts to $197.8 billion, taking the 4th position among global listed banks. The return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) comes to 1.10 percent and 14.00 percent respectively, essentially reaching the average level of the most advanced international banks. In the four-year period from 2004 to 2007, it had accumulatively paid a 166.4 billion yuan tax. Furthermore, it's predicted that by the end of 2008, the accumulative tax paid will be more than the $22.5 billion capital injection of the state, equivalent to building another BOC in 5 years' time. For its top-class financial services, BOC's brand value is widely praised as an internationally top-class bank. In 2006, The BOC's brand value evaluated by Business Week was $10.29 billion, taking second amongst Chinese domestic banks. On July 14, 2004, BOC broke ahead of the competition, becoming the only banking partner of the Beijing Olympic Games. I. Take initiative in innovation of systems and seek breakthroughs in reform and development In 1994 BOC began to transfer from a bank specialized in foreign exchange and foreign trade to an omnipotent commercial bank. 12 sister banks of Bank of China Group in Hong Kong and Macao were reorganized in 1999. The reorganized Bank of China (Hong Kong) Co Ltd was successfully listed in Hong Kong in 2002, and BOC thus became the first state-owned commercial bank listed abroad, boldly stepping ahead to further the reform of China’s banking industry. In line with the comprehensive arrangement of the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council, BOC was among the first batch of pilot banks for the comprehensive reform of state-owned commercial banks in September 2003 and took the lead in restructuring as a whole in August 2004, forming a joint-stock company. In June and July of 2006, BOC was successfully listed at both the Hong Kong and Shanghai Stock Exchanges becoming the first state-owned commercial bank realizing A share and H share listing. As a result, it successfully realized the commercialized reform of as a state-owned bank and explored an effective way of "state capital injection, disposing non-performing loans, establishing joint-stock company, introducing strategic investors, and selecting appropriate timing for listing" for the commercialization reform of other state-owned banks. (I) Push the corporate governance mechanism forward and forge a good corporate governance structure. After the share reform, BOC has further improved corporate governance structure, optimizing the board structure, and employing international professionals to act as independent directors, making the decision-making more professional, regularized, and transparent. The management make decisions on daily administrative, business, and financial control. Such specialized commissions as the Financial Business Commission, the Individual Financial Business Commission, and the Internal Control and Procurement Review Commission are set up to assist the management in promotion of the development of each business block and business control. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
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