OREANDA-NEWS. May 24, 2011. ICBC has over 100 million Personal Internet Banking users as of the end of March, to 102 million. ICBC defends its market dominance as the "No.1 Electronic Bank in China" by being the first commercial bank in China with "hundreds of millions" Personal Internet Banking users. Meanwhile, over 60% of ICBC transactions go through the electronic banking, which is the ICBC users' first choice for banking needs, reported the press-centre of ICBC.

Strategic Lead, Persistence is the Key to Success
Worthy of note is that, in around a decade ICBC has scored online personal users from 200,000 to 102 million. This fast growth is a statement of the huge market potential as well as the far-reaching strategy of ICBC in moving forward its electronic banking business. Despite the unpromising prospect of Internet Banking at the time of dot-com bubble burst in 2000, ICBC looked to the development trend of information society and fully realized the big opportunities behind. The Bank made the major decision to be a first-mover to push ahead the Electronic Banking.

Over the past decade, the use of internet technology and the enhancement and security performance of electronic banking functions eliminate the limitation of time and space to ICBC Electronic Banking. More and more customers are attracted to the round-the-clock, cross-regional, safe and convenient online services. ICBC made incessant effort to improve and innovate electronic banking technology and service to align with the living style in an internet era. As a result, a large group of new-generation customers with good growth prospects are attracted to use ICBC Electronic Banking, the customer portfolio of ICBC has been vastly improved. Meanwhile, the rich functions and convenience of electronic banking can effectively bind the customers and become one important way to maintain high-end customers. At present, over 50% of ICBC Personal Internet Banking users are private banking users and high-end customers. ICBC Electronic Banking services are moving across the world as ICBC is expanding beyond domestic focus. Currently, ICBC opens online banking services in 17 countries/regions and secures overseas users of over 100,000 in Personal Internet Banking, more than 10,000 in Corporate Internet Banking. ICBC Electronic Banking is a driver for the Bank to expand its global service scope and increase its global service capacity.

Comprehensive Functions, Available in 1085 Services
During the process, ICBC remains committed to "Customer First". To better meet the service need of customers, every year ICBC launches nearly a hundred new electronic banking products leveraging its advanced IT system and strong R&D capabilities. Besides moving many counter services online, ICBC has also developed a great number of exclusive online products, creating many "Industry First" - Corporate Internet Banking, 95588 Telephone Banking, USB-Shield and Code Card. Today, ICBC Electronic Banking has a total of 1,085 products, accounting for 45.9% of all lCBC products and holding first position in the domestic ranking in terms of product functions. ICBC Personal Internet Banking is a case in point, 400+ services are currently available under 23 categories, including account management, transfer/remittance, bill payment, personal wealth management, foreign exchange, securities, fund trading, precious metal investment, online loan and ICBC Messenging. All these services are cater to the diversified need of customers, who can finish most of the banking transactions at home, easy and fast. From the perspective of convenience, ICBC is truly moving from "A Bank around You" to "A Bank at your Home".
 
The rapid expansion of customer scale and service capacity, the rise of online banking and other electronic banking channels also play a vital role in the transformation of ICBC growth pattern. Today, electronic banking is the main channel for ICBC transactions and services, diverting large amount of counter services and service pressure, alleviating the conflict between the fast growth of business volume in all branches and the limited number of outlets, and taking the business development and efficiency a significant step higher. Electronic banking is a catalyst for many new products and service models and changes have been taken place in the Bank's business portfolio, product structure and income structure. ICBC Electronic Banking is growing at an annual compound rate of over 60% from 2000's RMB 2 trillion to RMB 249 trillion in 2010, representing an increase of 124-fold. Today, transactions via electronic banking every day surpass the total transactions processed by all ICBC outlets. Six out of ten transactions are processed online, tantamount to another ICBC built on the electronic channel. Besides, electronic banking evolves itself as a new business and profitability growth point in all branches, creating sizable business benefits. If counting the cost difference between one electronic banking transaction and one counter transaction, over RMB 26 billion of operation cost has been saved in 2010, which has reduced the operation cost in all branches significantly and improved the income earnings.

A Green Bank with Convenience and Low Consumption
While ICBC is delivering energy saving, eco-friendly "green" financial services, leveraging the advantages of "paperless, low consumption and highly efficient" of electronic banking, customers directly benefit from saving large amount of consumables like paper or ink, companies and individuals can also use less water, electricity and petrol. Online bank-enterprises reconciliation, electronic statement, electronic receipts, ICBC Messenging, electronic salary slip are typical resources saving services. Meanwhile, ICBC's Internet Banking, Telephone Banking, Mobile Banking also offer customers direct access to banking services. To customers, there is no need to run to ICBC outlets for non-cash banking transactions such as bill payment, transfer/remittance, investment or wealth management. ICBC Electronic Banking services help customers save large sum of transportation expense and time, as well as avoiding too many vehicles running on the road and the exhaust gas emission.

The rapid development of electronic banking, represented by online banking, is pushing the use of Information Technology among the public, industry insiders said. Banking services are moving to electronic finance, green finance while banks keep improving their capability and standard to serve the customers. For over a decade, ICBC stays at the forefront in electronic banking innovation, implements new customer transaction model and service options, and changes from a conventional bank to a bank of "mouse + cement", a modern bank offering services via electronic banking and physical outlets in parallel. An ICBC executive said, in the near future ICBC will expedite the innovation effort in products and services leveraging electronic banking, an advanced technology and business platform. ICBC aims to build an electronic banking with the following: most varied products and functions, excellence in customer experience and evaluation, most powerful marketing and service capacity, most advanced risk control level, and cover all the main subsidiaries in China and overseas, in a bid to offer more convenient, safe, highly efficient, excellent modern financial services to the customers.