Bank brings professional, high-quality services to CIIE

Official partner of 2022 Winter Olympics will also offer special Games-themed credit card

Bank of China, the strategic partner of the China International Import Expo, is providing high-quality and professional services for the second expo starting this week, including organizing themed activities and providing on-site services.

Bank of China actively participated in the expo's preparation, promoting the import expo overseas by holding exhibitions and investment promotion events.

It had held 12 such events in overseas regions before the opening of the second import expo to match clients' supplies and demands, and raise the awareness of both exhibitors and visitors of the second import expo.

Bank of China is also organizing and taking part in activities at the expo and sharing its insights with participants at several forums and other events.

The bank's top executives participated in parallel forums on Nov 5, the opening day of the second CIIE.

One of the parallel forums it took part in, a global e-commerce summit with the theme "Digital Era and E-commerce Innovation and Development: Open Platform and Cooperation Vision", is closely related to the bank's business practice.

Liu Liange, chairman of Bank of China, shared his insights into the new trends in e-commerce with about 800 delegates at the forum. Other speakers at the forum included Jean-Paul Agon, chairman and CEO of L'Oreal; John Meacock, global chief strategy officer of Deloitte; and Zhang Yong, chairman of Alibaba.

Prior to the forum, Bank of China released its 2019 financial service plan for cross-border e-commerce on Nov 1 in Beijing, announcing its tailored services for various players in the e-commerce sector.

Bank of China also worked together with the People's Bank of China to jointly hold a forum with the theme "Internationalization of Renminbi to Facilitate the Development of Free Trade Zones" on Nov 6.

About 450 delegates, including government officials and business executives, participated in the conference, discussing issues relating to renminbi internationalization and free trade zones, to offer suggestions for China's further opening-up.

The speakers created a retrospective of the 10 years of the internationalization of the Chinese currency and praised Bank of China's efforts in this process.

Since the renminbi internationalization began in July 2009, Bank of China has always been at the forefront in promoting cross-border renminbi settlement and clearing, and offering cross-border products and services, the speakers said.

Bank of China's statistics show the amount of cross-border renminbi settlements made by the bank reached 5.95 trillion yuan ($848.5 billion) in 2018, ranking first among all banks at home and abroad.

The bank's executives said the achievement was made thanks to its many subsidiaries and outlets in nearly 60 countries and regions.

Since China's first free trade area, China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, was launched in 2013, Bank of China has blazed a new trail to serve this process by offering more than 50 categories of financial services tailored to various free trade areas, according to the bank's executives.

At the ongoing second import expo, Bank of China has provided more than 40 ATMs, currency exchange machines, intelligent machines and tools to serve domestic and foreign exhibitors, allowing them to experience the convenient and efficient financial services offered by the bank.

As it did during the first import expo, Bank of China has selected hundreds of its outstanding young employees at home and abroad to offer various on-site services for the expo's participants.

Learning from its experience in serving the first import expo held in November last year, the bank has updated the exclusive training courses for its expo service staff, making them more prepared for the event. The comprehensive trainings focused on Bank of China's products and full-scale banking service skills, to ensure the high quality of financial services for businesses and visitors at the import expo.

As the official partner of the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Bank of China is also displaying its products and services relating to the events, including a special credit card themed around the winter games.

With the support of Bank of China, a large outdoor ice and snow sports area has been built on the northern square of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the main venue of the second import expo. The facility aims to let visitors participate in and increase their enthusiasm for the sports.

Other facilities supported by the bank include virtual reality ice and snow sports equipment.

Bank of China has also developed an app for overseas purchasers at the second import expo, which includes consulting, inquiry, transaction statistics and many other functions, and provides more diversified support with high tech.

The bank has always been committed to promoting traditional culture and supporting cultural development. At the ongoing expo, the bank works together with the China International Import Expo Bureau - the event's organizer - to provide financial services, such as payment and settlement, for the exhibition area of intangible cultural heritage and time-honored brands of China, aiming to build a "cultural expo" brand for the event.

(China Daily 11/08/2019 page10)