Over the three years after the "5.12" Wenchuan earthquake, Bank of China Sichuan Branch (the Branch) has been actively providing full range of responsive financial services to the disaster areas through timely adjustment and optimization of its credit policy and service measures in the spirit of social responsibility. By the end of April, 2011, the Branch had issued a total of RMB 75.719 billion loans, of which RMB 19.363 billion were spent on the hardest hit areas. Such loans were widely used in support of the urban and rural housing and township development, the infrastructure in transportation, communication and water conservancy, agricultural production and industrial rehabilitation as well as public services undertakings such as medical care, making positive contribution to the economic and social recuperation and development in these areas.
With regards to the urban and rural housing and township development, the Branch, by innovating its service modes based on the government plan for post-disaster reconstruction, has been intensifying its support by granting a total of RMB 8 billion reconstruction loans to help with such post-disaster projects as rebuilding destroyed houses in rural areas, building modern rural communities, reinforcing damaged houses and setting up permanent settlements in many quake-affected districts and counties in Sichuan.
In infrastructure, the Branch has been extensively involved in the post-disaster road and railway rehabilitation. In addition to railway projects such as Chengdu-Lanzhou Railway, Chengdu-Dujiangyan Express Railway and Chengdu-Mianyang-Leshan Inter-city Railway, it also led the syndicated loan projects in Suining-Ziyang Expressway, Ya'an-Meishan-Leshan Expressway and Bazhong-Taoyuan Highway. Meanwhile, it has provided tremendous supports in rebuilding city pipeline networks, public facilities, water and gas supply and sewage treatment projects in Sichuan province.
In response to the "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" issue, the Branch has taken initiatives in developing new financial service products tailored for county economy. It has created new products such as Yi Nong Dai loan and innovative services such as mutual guarantee and joint guarantee to better support agriculture, rural areas and farmers, especially industry leaders with sound operation and good credibility such as Chengdu Huaxi Hope Group, Xinjin Hope Feedstuff Factory and Mianyang Zhengda Group. To support the construction of rural roads in the disaster areas, the Branch has issued a credit line to the Provincial Department of Transportation of Sichuan, making itself the largest commercial bank to support rural road construction.
To support small- and medium-sized enterprises, the Branch has been making effort to strengthen service mechanism and product innovation. The establishment of the SME business unit in March 2009 and the extension of "BOC credit factory" business model to all subordinated sub-branches symbolize such endeavors. Meanwhile, it has increased the credit issuance to SMEs in the earthquake-affected areas by making bold innovations in all the stages from eligibility, appraisal to disbursement in order to improve efficiency. The improved financial services with timely credit support have contributed greatly to the operations and developments of SMEs. By the end of April, 2011, the Branch had issued a total of RMB 1.295 billion loans to SMEs in the earthquake-affected areas under the new model.
The Branch has also contributed to the recovery and reconstruction of pillar industries and key enterprises and projects in line with the state master plan of post-disaster reconstruction and the Sichuan industrial revitalization plan. It has signed agreements on the post-disaster financial cooperation amounting to RMB 80 billion with tens of enterprises including China Dongfang Electric Corporation, Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group, Sichuan Expressway Construction & Development Corporation, Chengdu Transportation Investment Group, Dujiangyan Land Reserve Center, the Second Bureau of China Railway and China Metallurgical Construction Chenggong Corp. In addition, the Branch has consolidated cooperation with the provincial, municipal and prefectural governments to further boost economic developments in Sichuan.
On top of providing financial support to the reconstruction of disaster areas, the Branch has been active in the fulfillment of the corporate social responsibilities. Over the three years, it has donated a total of RMB 4.95 million in the face of natural disasters such as the earthquakes in Wenchuan of Sichuan, Yushu of Qinghai and landslides in Zhouqu of Gansu. Meanwhile, it has also made donations of more than RMB 3.5 million to schools and in other philanthropic activities to help with the poor and needy. It has continued with the work in the follow-up management and maintenance of personal loans after the expiration of a grace period, and has, up to now, furnished grace period services to a total of 1,638 affected customers, thus greatly relieving the borrowers from the burden of loan repayment.
Although its sub-branches in 15 cities and prefectures in Sichuan province were affected by the Wenchuan earthquake and 237 out of a total of 460 outlets suffered losses, 35 severely damaged, the Branch has achieved a rapid growth while supporting the recovery and reconstructions of the local disaster areas. By the end of March, 2011, the combined balance of deposits in RMB and foreign currencies had exceeded RMB 270 billion, with an increase of 149% from that before the earthquake, and the balance of loans in RMB and foreign currencies had reached RMB 160 billion, increasing by 146% from that before the earthquake. In the future, the Branch will continue focusing its support on the transformation and upgrade of the competitively advantageous industries and market leaders as well as in the optimization of industrial structure; on private businesses and SMEs with local characteristics and abilities to create jobs and the tertiary industry; also on the construction of infrastructure of transportation, electricity and communications so as to provide high quality and highly efficient financial services for the economic and social development in the disaster areas.
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