Entering April, ICBC's offices serving specially for the small enterprises have mushroomed nationwide. On April 30th, the Board Director of ICBC, Mr. Jiang Jianqing, unveiled the signboard for the small enterprises financial business center of the Zhejiang branch, which became the 569th office of ICBC to offer special financial services for small enterprises. In addition, ICBC has also established 326 small enterprises service management institutions responsible for product research and development, authorization and approval, and risk control, which are structurally above the second-level branches; thus ICBC came to be the commercial bank owning the largest number of small enterprises service offices which cover the vastest area of China.

Before this, ICBC had already set up the department of small enterprises financial services in the head office which takes charge of the management and development of ICBC's small enterprises financial services. It is generally taken that large banks target large enterprises. However, ICBC, owning the most domestic assets, the largest number of clients and the highest market value, while actively participating in market competition for large enterprises clients, has never downplayed its role in serving the small and medium-sized enterprises. Instead, ICBC has never failed to adapt development strategies, management institutions, and service models to the characteristics of different-sized clients. By the end of March, ICBC's SME clients have exceeded 52,000, the balance of loans to SME have reached RMB 2 trillion, counting for 50% of all company loans. In the first quarter ICBC's loans to SME have increased by RMB 396.5 billion, taking up 61% of the total increased loans.

People inside the banking industry says that, ICBC's effort to set up a system of offices serving specially for the small enterprises will contribute to the improvement of financial environment and of financial services for domestic small enterprises, which will also help ICBC expand its market space, diversify management risks and enhance its capability of sustainable development.

The Board Director of ICBC, Mr. Jiang Jianqing, said at the unveiling ceremony of the small enterprises financial business center in Hangzhou that, it is from a strategic perspective that ICBC has devoted to promoting the financial services for small enterprises. ICBC will tailor its services to the small enterprises' demands emerged in different phases of their growth, endeavoring to become the "first choice" bank for small enterprises in purchasing financial services. Furthermore, he requested that, the whole bank should actively serve the eligible small enterprises and improve its services by constant innovation; meanwhile, it should expand its notion of supporting the small enterprises, based on their characteristics at different developing phases and their specific needs, provide comprehensive financial services and help them build up a sound financial basis to go a long way.

As early as 2006, ICBC has started to test establishing offices serving specially for the small enterprises in selected cities. Indicated by their operations, these offices can effectively boost ICBC's SME financial business and the overall level of SME enterprises services. Take the small enterprises service center at ICBC's Beijing Branch, Zhongguancun Sub-branch as an example, since it was instituted in 2006, it has granted loans to SME which totals RMB 1.2 billion, and the balance of loans has grown from RMB 52.12 million to RMB 550 million, a 10.55 times increase at an annual growth rate of 477%. ICBC's Shanghai Branch, Huangpu Sub-branch, as a sub-branch office providing special services for the small enterprises set up in 2007, saw an increase of 243 small enterprises clients in 2008; and its balance of loans to small enterprises has risen from RMB 926 million to RMB 1.401 billion at the end of 2008, an increase of 51.3%. The reasons that offices serving providing special services for small enterprises can greatly facilitate ICBC's business lie in that such offices, focusing on financial services for small enterprises, can target the characteristics of small enterprises' operation management and capital functioning  to design lending approval processes and eligibility standards, increase the efficiency of credit examination, research and develop products meeting small and medium-sized enterprises' needs, thus fulfilling the demands of small and medium-sized enterprises for "short-termed, frequent and urgent" financing and for flexible and diversified financial services by building up "special institutions", "professional teams", and "customized products".

Domestic small and medium-sized enterprises have flourished since the reform and opening up of China, which have created tremendous national wealth, boosted urban and rural economy, expand employment, activated market competition, promoted technical and institutional innovations, improved people's lives and enhanced social harmony and stability. Since small enterprises have become the most dynamic group in national economy, their development exerts a significant impact upon China's economic and social life. ICBC has always held it as its social responsibility to provide high-quality financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises, and also as its strategic choice to develop SME financial services, establishing organizations, reforming its inner management systems and creating new products and services for small enterprises. In 2005, ICBC was selected by the Banking Regulatory Commission as one of the two pilot banks in China to innovate small enterprises lending. ICBC set up special teams to manage small enterprises services, and took the lead in domestic banking industry to take lending and other financial services for "small enterprises" as an independent business category. ICBC, fully considering the unique features of small enterprises' financial management, has sifted from a number of risk factors the indicators which best reflect the financing risks for small enterprises, and developed a wholly new rating and credit management system for small enterprises. ICBC has also designed special procedures of lending for small enterprises and created operation and service models that suit the operational characteristics of small enterprises. As to the specific difficulties small enterprises have in finding guarantees, ICBC has promoted various ways of guarantee such as natural person as the guarantor, accounts receivable, inventory and other properties as the pledge, pledge of intangible assets, loan guarantee insurance, and SME co-guarantee. Meanwhile, ICBC has provided comprehensive financial services for SMEs, including lending, trade financing, bill operations, settlement, investment banking, financial consultancy, e-banking services and SME bond financing, and developed such customized solutions as "commercial housing lease and reconstruction loan", "financing of large-scale supermarket suppliers", "steel trade financing", "oil trade financing", "gold trade management", "financing under the supervision of automobile quality certificate" and "patent pledge loan", which have well met different needs of various types of SMEs. Among these solutions, "financing solution for Wal-Mart providers" won the "Best SME Financing Solution" on the Chinese SME Financing Forum. Such measures taken by ICBC have effectively accelerated the sound development of its SME financial services. Its increased number of SME clients has always been far ahead of those of other banks. ICBC has also been selected by the Banking Regulatory Commission as the National Outstanding Unit in Providing Financial Services for Small Enterprises for two executive years, which is the only large-scale bank to win this honor.

Since the second half year of 2008, to help small and medium-sized enterprises walk out of the shadow of international financial crisis, ICBC, in virtue of the national policies of supporting SMEs, has introduced a set of new services in time. For example, targeting the difficulties of SMEs in accounts receivable return and their severe liquidity pressure, ICBC took the initiative to develop trade financing based on accounts receivable, which satisfied SMEs' need for flowing capital. Another example would be that ICBC, Comprehensively using bank acceptances, guarantees and other out-of-balance-sheet tools to provide credit support for SMEs to participate in domestic and international trade and tender-bidding. Recently, ICBC developed four lines of financial products especially for SMEs, including "Commercial used assets loan", "Property of commercial goods loan", "Accounts receivable loan" and "Financial bills loan", researched and promoted such small enterprises financial services brands as "Small Enterprises Revolving Loan" and "Easy Finance". Considering SMEs' demands for e-banking services, ICBC has also launched the EMS edition of corporate e-banking, completed the development of such new brands as "Cheque Express", "Speed Remittance" and "Global Remittance Express", providing settlement and cash management services for SMEs. At the same time, ICBC's investment banking services have rapidly expanded to SMEs. In his investigation at Zhejiang for SME financial business, the Board Director of ICBC, Jiang Jianqing announced that, ICBC will start Internet financial services at the Zhejiang trial office and link banking business with corporate e-commercial business to establish an online financial platform providing multi services for small enterprises in Zhejiang, and even in the whole China.

ICBC's officer responsible for related matters said that, after ICBC construct the system of offices providing special services for small enterprises, ICBC will promote the perfection of operation mechanisms in line with the requirements of "Six Mechanisms" for small enterprises financial business established by the Banking Regulatory Commission, integrate its business resources, advance product innovation, and go in for bringing its SME financial services up to a new level.