OREANDA-NEWS. June 15, 2011. ICBC and University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) jointly announced the Second Annual "ICBC Cup" Nationwide University Students Banking Products Design Contest, in Beijing. Undergraduates, postgraduates and doctoral students at universities across the countries are all welcomed to join this year's contest. Those who are interested can visit the official website (http://innovation.uibe.edu.cn) or Weibo (http://weibo.com/2108433620) for further information.

The organizing committee will choose the best design from the entries under the principle of "Open, Fair, Just". Winners are given the opportunity to join ICBC as interns on top of a cash award up to RMB10,000. During this period, ICBC will work with all the universities to disseminate financial literacy to students, and create favorable conditions to incorporate the creative ideas into innovation project of ICBC banking products.

This year's contest continues the theme "Youth and Creativity", setting up a platform for the university students to bring out their best through their creativity, enterprising spirit and passion, and to help them contribute own value to the society. University students are encouraged to use their everyday learning, living and practical experience and market research to come up with the best design proposal in line with the social progress, market change, customer needs and business development requirements of Chinese banks. Compared with the first year of contest, this year allows more universities to join in, more exciting for students with even more activities. As related by the industry insider, the success in the first year let the contest become a financial innovation activity of good brand effect. The contest has been proven to be a great opportunity for the university students to combine their theory and practical experience, shape up their capability to innovate and research new products and train them as practical-type talents with high innovation skill to the needs of the society. It is also beneficial to the industry-academic-research partnership, gathering all the forces to drive financial innovation and improve the level of financial services.

As related by the ICBC executive, being the commercial bank offering the most number of financial products and being known for its innovation prowess in China, ICBC forms its own unique culture with innovation during reform and development. ICBC is committed to provide excellent financial services and let customers use the best financial products. The goal of ICBC is to become a world-class bank of innovation, believe in the innovation philosophy of "customer first, open and moving forward, true and practical" and stay close with all walks of life to innovate financial products. So far, ICBC has established industry-academic-research partnership with 10+ respected universities and research institutes in an aim to promote the continuous enhancement in innovation and service standard. One UIBE spokesperson said, under the philosophy of "human-centric, open door school ", UIBE has made significant progress in teaching and research over the years, supplying large groups of talented and knowledgeable students to work in the society. UIBE joins ICBC again to hold the Second Annual "ICBC Cup" Nationwide University Students Banking Products Design Contest will definitely push the relation to a higher level between bank and universities, between universities themselves. It also cultivates innovative-type talents for the society and drives the implementation of financial innovation of the university students in the society. The contest is a platform for university students to gain practical experience and help the universities train up talents, said representatives from many universities. University students are encouraged to join the contest, put their creativity to work, contribute to the society, a good interaction between financial innovation and talent cultivation.

The First Annual "ICBC Cup" Nationwide University Students Banking Products Design Contest was held during May-December last year. The organizing committee received a total of 402 design proposals from 2000+ contestants coming from 111 universities nationwide. The panel judges finally decided to present Meritorious Award to 2 proposals: "Happy Family" and E-Lightning Card. "Happy Family" is a wealth management product designed for a family to invest in different stages of life cycles. E-Lightning Card is an innovative product encompassing different financial and industry applications with functions on emerging payment and electronic banking security. Proxime Accessit Award to 4 proposals, including: loan for university students to start business with cumulative credit based on the students' performance in the university, the joint loan to the elderly through housing mortgage and housing reverse mortgage. Third Class Award was presented to 10 proposals, Excellence Award to 20 proposals. Besides, Outstanding Organization Award to 10 Universities, including UIBE, Inner Mongolia University, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, China University of Mining and Technology, Peking University.