General

In 2022, Bank of China increased its efforts to stabilize the supply of foreign trade finance. The domestic international settlement business volume reached 3.4 trillion US dollars, and the market share of international trade settlement remained the top in the industry. Direct investment in import and export trade financing increased by 15% year-on-year throughout the year. Cross border guarantee business maintained a leading position in the industry. On March 31, Bank of China Limited held a performance conference for the year 2022. The reporter learned from the scene that as the main channel bank for cross-border finance, Bank of China will increase its financial support for stabilizing foreign investment and foreign trade in 2022, providing cross-border settlement services for nearly half of enterprises with customs import and export achievements.

The performance report released by Bank of China shows that in 2022, the bank's international trade settlement, cross-border RMB, foreign exchange settlement and sales, cross-border custody and other businesses remained the top in the industry. The international settlement volume of the group reached 7.7 trillion US dollars, and the domestic international settlement volume reached 3.4 trillion US dollars. The cross-border RMB settlement volume of the group reached 31.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.10%. The domestic cross-border RMB settlement volume reached 10.4 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.61%. The cross-border RMB settlement volume of the group reached 741.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.27%. The market share of the number of signed customers for cross-border wealth management is over 60%, and the market share of cross-border fund transfer is over 50%.

In 2022, Bank of China strengthened the innovation of new trade formats and products, providing cross-border e-commerce and market procurement trade customers with over 280 billion yuan of cross-border fund settlement support, a year-on-year increase of 85%. Launch the "Bank of China Cross border Remittance Express" to achieve instant automatic entry of SWIFT cross-border remittances, with a total amount of nearly 100 billion US dollars. At the same time, we will strengthen financial services for stabilizing foreign trade and formulate and release 20 action plans for cross cycle adjustment to stabilize foreign trade. We will continue to provide high-quality services to national trade exhibitions such as the China International Import and Export Fair, the China International Trade Fair, the China Canton Fair, the China Consumer Goods Fair, and the China International Trade Fair. We will organize and hold 150 "One Hundred Thousand Enterprises" series of activities to support high-quality trade development, and directly serve over 33000 foreign trade enterprises.

Zhang Xiaodong, Vice President of the Bank of China, said in response to questions from reporters, "In terms of serving to stabilize foreign trade, the Bank of China has made a combination of efforts in 2022 and achieved new results. This year, we have prepared enough toolboxes and strive to achieve new breakthroughs. Guided by the spirit of the 20th National Congress, we will deeply implement the work deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to 'stabilize foreign trade', and contribute more to promoting the stability and quality of China's foreign trade

Specifically, firstly, we will continue to promote financial services such as "going out to sea to grab orders", providing no less than $500 billion in international settlement and equivalent trade financing support of 100 billion yuan throughout the year. The second is to continue to provide financial support for the five major exhibitions, deeply explore opportunities for customer expansion, and expand spillover effects. The third is to stimulate new business formats, new momentum, and new potential, continue to provide financial services to market entities such as cross-border e-commerce, market procurement trade, and overseas warehouses, and actively support the development of bilateral trade. The fourth is to continuously strengthen the innovation and promotion of digital products, promote cross-border trade and investment facilitation, and further improve service efficiency. The fifth is to closely follow the development of external situations and the pace of financial market opening, strengthen product innovation, actively promote the valuation of RMB and its use in neighboring countries, and provide greater assistance for the orderly promotion of RMB internationalization in China. Six is to coordinate development and safety, and achieve high-quality business development while effectively controlling risks.

This year is the 10th year of the "the Belt and Road" initiative. Zhang Xiaodong introduced that as a Chinese bank with the highest degree of globalization and integration, since 2014, Bank of China has closely followed the national "the Belt and Road" initiative and proposed the strategic goal of building a "the Belt and Road" financial artery, which has achieved good results.

In terms of institutional layout, the Bank of China continued to optimize the "the Belt and Road" financial service network and increased its institutional layout. From 2013 to 2023, the number of overseas institutions covering countries and regions increased by 24. So far, Bank of China's overseas institutions have covered 62 countries and regions, including 42 countries co constructing the "the Belt and Road".

In terms of credit support, in recent years, Bank of China has supported a number of "the Belt and Road" key projects in the fields of health, green, digital and innovation with the goal of "high standards, sustainability and benefiting people's livelihood". Innovative financing structure to assist Chinese enterprises in participating in the construction of the world's largest single unit photovoltaic power station project in the United Arab Emirates. By the end of 2022, the Bank of China had followed up more than 900 corporate credit projects and accumulated credit support of more than 269 billion dollars in the "the Belt and Road" countries.

In terms of issuing "the Belt and Road" themed bonds, Bank of China has become the financial institution with the largest number, scale, scope and currency of "the Belt and Road" themed bonds in the world. From 2015 to 2019, Bank of China issued a total of five "the Belt and Road" themed bonds, with a total size of US $14.5 billion, in seven currencies including RMB, US dollar and euro.

In terms of promoting people to people and cultural exchanges and people to people connections, the Bank of China successfully held eight "the Belt and Road" international financial exchange and cooperation seminars to share China's wisdom and solutions and discuss opportunities for international trade, trade and financial cooperation.

In helping local governments participate in the construction of the "the Belt and Road", Bank of China is committed to providing comprehensive and accurate financial services. Taking the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port as an example, the Bank of China helped to promote the organic combination of the construction of the "the Belt and Road" and the construction of the free trade port in international trade with financial strength, and promoted the construction of important fulcrums of the 21st century Maritime Silk Road to go deeper and more practical.

"This year marks the tenth anniversary of the the Belt and Road Initiative. The country will hold the third the Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum and other important events. Our bank will also give full support and cooperation, and actively plan its own activities related to the tenth anniversary of the the Belt and Road Initiative." Zhang Xiaodong said that Bank of China will further base itself on the new stage of development and give play to its comparative advantage of globalization, With the goal of "high standards, sustainability, and people's wellbeing", we will continue to consolidate the basic framework of international trade cooperation along the "the Belt and Road", steadily expand new areas, actively serve new development patterns and high-level opening up, and promote the high-quality development of the "the Belt and Road" to achieve new results.