Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) held a poverty alleviation seminar themed “Facilitate Poverty Alleviation by Uniting Financial Synergy” participated by financial institutions in Yanchang County, Shaanxi Province on November 2. A series of innovative achievements of financial collaboration were launched. At the seminar, the Bank and local government, futures companies, insurance companies, apple enterprises and fruit growers jointly signed the Cooperation Agreement on Poverty Alleviation for the Apple Industry in Yanchang County. The Bank also launched the financing product “ICBC Easy Loan for Farmers – Apple Connect”, set up an e-commerce special section for farm produce in poverty reduction and released the apple-pegged futures wealth management product.

ICBC Vice President Tan Jiong said that “banking + insurance + futures” was a collaborative innovation in the industry. Through this mode, insurance companies provide farmers with price or income insurance, futures companies offer risk hedging for insurance products and banks provide farmers and leading enterprises with financing support as well as auxiliary service such as e-commerce selling, premium donation and selling of pegged wealth management products. It would offer price guarantee for about 667 hectare of apples in Yanchang County and truly benefit 3,000 fruit growers and leading enterprises locally. ICBC has also developed targeted financing product “Apple Loan” and set up a special section for Yanchang apple selling at ICBC Mall. Meanwhile, it launched apple-pegged wealth management products to guide more enterprises and individuals into financial poverty alleviation. For the next step, ICBC will study the feasibility of establishing a Vitalization Fund for Rural Industry and boost the upgrade of poverty reduction industry by guiding farmers to grow farm produce according to the futures delivery standard and create order-based agriculture based on the futures storage and selling standard. The Bank make concerted efforts to enrich and perfect the loan product system for poverty reduction, increase credit input in related sectors, and explore innovative financing modes such as banking + industry, banking + project and rural industry vitalization fund. In the meanwhile, ICBC will tighten fund management and risk monitoring over poverty alleviation projects, so as to achieve greater success in the financial battle against poverty alleviation.

Over years, ICBC has kept exploring new modes of poverty reduction. Working with various parties, it utilized advanced technologies and financial tools such as Internet, big data, blockchain, investment fund and futures and insurance to promote targeted poverty alleviation to a higher level. In capital input, it piloted a poverty alleviation fund management and monitoring platform in Guizhou to successfully monitor RMB17.3 billion poverty eradication fund in the province in 2017. In fund operation, the Bank adopted the market-based mode “led by financial fund + followed by social capital” to stimulate rural industries. Meanwhile, ICBC Mall exempted both transaction commission and cash deposit for vendors in over 800 poverty-stricken counties nationwide and put up online the businesses of 500 vendors from 281 national poverty-stricken counties in 21 provinces, regions and municipalities, covering more than 7,600 featured agricultural products and rural tourism products.