On August 6, 2007, Olympic Economic (Beijing) Forum was opened at Fangfei Yuan of Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. VIP Guest such as Mr. Gerhard Heiburg (Chairman of IOC Marketing Commission), Mr. Hain Verbruggen (Chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games) and executives of Olympic sponsors and partners were present. The forum, under the theme of “sharing brand wonder, creating Olympic wealth”, made in-depth analysis and communication on the opportunities and challenges that Beijing Olympics brought to Chinese economy and enterprises. BOC Vice President ZHU Min delivered a speech named “Changing with the Olympics, Changing to Lead” at the forum.
Mr. ZHU expatiated on how commercial banks seek new development and win competitive advantage with the opportunities that Olympics bring to Chinese banking industry, and shared BOC’s experience in Olympic marketing. His speech was warmly received by the participants.
He mentioned that Olympic sponsorship helped BOC greatly in terms of brand building, product innovation, business development and employee cohesion, etc. In its preparation, BOC’s priority is to invest ￥10 billion in improving its IT system, so that it can provide first-class after-sales service for about 100 million visitors during Olympic time. Specifically, this IT system will provide multi-lingual (including Chinese, English, French, Spanish, etc) and one-stop service to ensure that all Olympic participants will acquire the most timely, convenient and effective information.
At the same time, BOC conducted a series of employee trainings that ranged from language and etiquette to relevant skills. It also launched several Olympic-themed products which are now sold at 197 outlets. It is estimated that sales of Beijing Olympic products will set record-high in Olympic history. Meanwhile, BOC has 1000 designated outlets to sell Olympic tickets. Olympic partnership is a good drive to BOC’s business, products and services. Moreover, what counts most is the reconstruction of IT system and business procedure, as well as the reform of risk management and internal management system. It will exert significant impacts on the improvement of BOC’s core competence.
Besides tangible assets, employees’ enthusiasm and pride have been great inspired in the past three years. BOC has organized various activities, such as Olympic competition, countdown mobilization, selection of torchbearers, etc. Bank Of China is really proud to be an Olympic partner.
Mr. ZHU pointed out that Chinese banking industry had made huge process through reform and development in the past few years. Some banks have already ranked in world’s top 10 banks. In the past five years, the total assets of Chinese banking industry have doubled and the annual increase rate averages at 15%. This rate is expected to remain for the next five years. Chinese banking industry has bright prospective and great potential.
In the end, he said: “in review of past experience, we have full confidence that BOC can provide quality financial service for a successful Olympics. Next year, BOC will put forward the slogan ‘acclaim for the Olympic Games; win-win for BOC and you’. Standing on this stage, I can already imagine the acclamation for Olympic Games and world’s attention on Beijing one year from now. This is the pride of Beijing, of China, and also a business opportunity for Chinese banking industry. Therefore we are fully confident and determined that, we will make use of Olympic business opportunities, Chinese banking industry will show on the world stage along with the success of Olympic Games!”
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