ICBC has recently launched the trading business of currencies from 80 emerging market countries for corporate and institutional customers, which supports spot trading, forward trading, swap as well as deposit and remittance services of 20 freely-convertible currencies and hedging services such as non-deliverable forward of 60 currencies that cannot be freely converted. By supporting the trading of as many as 105 foreign currencies for corporate customers, ICBC is the first commercial bank in China with foreign exchange trading fully covering countries along the “Belt and Road”.

According to an ICBC official, as China deepens its opening-up policy, Chinese enterprises are more actively participating in the economic and trade investment activities in the countries along the “Belt and Road”, which generate strong financial demands for currency exchange and foreign exchange hedging. As Chinese banks did not provide trading services for currencies of some countries in the past, businesses had to convert currencies in local financial institutions, facing more difficulty and cost in currency exchange. Therefore, by leveraging ICBC Group’s advantages in internationalized operation, over 20 years of experiences and currency quotation ability of ICBC Standard Bank Plc in the emerging markets, ICBC launched the foreign exchange trading and hedging services for currencies of the “Belt and Road” countries and other emerging market countries to help businesses reduce local currency exchange cost and exchange rate risk arising out of “Going Global”.

In recent years, ICBC has actively adapted itself to customers’ demands for global and diversified financial services and improved its overseas layout by closely following the foreign trade and investment development of China, with its global service capacity significantly enhanced. So far, ICBC has become the Chinese financial institution with the widest global footprint The Bank has established 400 branches and institutions covering 42 countries and territories across the world and extended presence to 20 African countries by investing in Standard Bank, forming a global financial service network spanning Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, America and Australia. Among these, ICBC has over 120 institutions in 18 countries along the “Belt and Road” and has become the Chinese financial institution with the services covering the most countries along the “Belt and Road”.