In recent years, ICBC has actively innovated financial market business based on needs for investment, financing, trading and safe-haven, which has significantly driven the healthy development of the real economy.

In 2015, given the financial demand of key fields in the real economy, such as key construction projects and public utility projects, and development of small and micro enterprises, ICBC has leveraged its professional market research expertise and multi-tiered marketing channels to guide enterprises to issue bonds at favorable time window, which effectively reduced the bond issuance costs. In 2015, ICBC underwrote more than 1,530 domestic and overseas bonds, and raised funds worth over RMB 1.4 trillion for the real economy. Among these bonds, ICBC acted as the lead underwriter for RMB 1.15 trillion of bonds, hitting a record high of the annual lead underwriting amount of bonds of all financial institutions in China.

With the acceleration of interest rate liberalization and the boom of cross-border investment, financing and commodity trade, demand grows among businesses for financial services. To help enterprises ward off the risk of fluctuation of exchange rate, interest rate and commodity prices, ICBC has endeavored to develop currency exchange and hedge services for customers. Currently its forex settlement and sales services are available for 26 currencies, including corporate forex trading services for the currencies of 80 emerging countries, expanding the number of forex trading currencies to 105. It was the first financial institution in China to extend forex services to all countries along the “Belt and Road”. ICBC also offers financial market analysis and a package of exchange rate and interest rate hedge solutions for overseas M&A and project financing of Chinese enterprises, and takes the lead in domestic financial industry to launch commodity trade settled in RMB, covering 31 types under five categories, namely precious metal, base metal, energy, agricultural products and soft commodities. The Bank has provided internet banking channels for forex settlement and sales, forex trading and commodity trading, featuring long service time and convenient operation. In 2015, ICBC has processed more than USD 650 billion of forex settlement and sale and forex trading services, over RMB 240 billion of RMB and foreign currency interest rate risk management services and over RMB 7 billion of commodity hedge services.

Furthermore in response to the diversified investment and trading demands of Chinese residents, ICBC kept exploring business and product innovation, and creatively launched account-based copper and account-based soybean in 2015 in addition to the original account-based trading products. It was the first one among domestic banks to establish a product mix covering five major account-based trading products, i.e. precious metals, forex, energy, base metals and agricultural products. As at the end of 2015, the number of account-based trading customers exceeded 17 million, with an accumulative trading amount of over RMB 2.65 trillion. Meanwhile ICBC has continued to enrich counter book-entry bond products. The Bank took the lead in launching and realizing the normal issuance of innovative products such as CDB bond and EXIM Bank Bond at counter, which are available for trading round the clock. While meeting the bond investment and trading demands of various types of investors, the Bank has broadened the financing channels for bond issuers, and played a significant role in funding the real economy.