Recently, Mr. Jiang Jianqing, Chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, led a group of ICBC delegates to attend the World Economic Forum held at Davos, and took this opportunity to visit major financial institutions in U.K. and Switzerland as well.

Mr. Jiang Jianqing was invited to the World Economic Forum and participated in the Special Session for China Banking. Mr. Jiang held in-depth talks with attendees on concerns regarding China banking reform, in particular, on topics which the world concern most such as how China banks prevent new bad debts, how China banks face the challenges of slacken economy that may arrive. Mr. Jiang noted that state-owned commercial banks in China are undergoing a major historic breakthrough and attract worldwide attention now. In the past one year, Chinese Government made successive decisions, based upon which state-owned banks including ICBC successfully completed restructuring with support from the government and their own efforts. After this restructure, China stated-owned commercial banks will have improved corporate governance, clear risk preferences and, more stringent risk control, asset and cost constraints. Commercial banking practices will be more robust and rational.

Mr. Jiang Jianqing further noted that state-owned commercial banks in China enter the critical period to modernize and internationalize themselves in the years ahead. They are now facing a market of high growth and high risk. As China banking reform goes further, marketlization of interest rates are continuously propelled, interest rate risk and liquidity risk will surface. Tide with the challenges, banks must adjust its operating structure and earnings structure faster to diversify asset and return structures. Development simply relying on rapid expansion of credit asset scale must be changed to create stable, long-term returns for shareholders on less capital leverage, less risk compensation and less operating cost.

Mr. Jiang Jianqing also visited major financial institutions in U.K. and Switzerland during this trip.