OREANDA-NEWS. January 16, 2013. At the Banking Technology Progress Awards for the year 2012 hosted by People's Bank of China earlier, ICBC won the Banking Technology Progress Award for all the 9 nominated technology achievements in recognition of the Bank's excellence in R&D and strong practical usage, reported the press-centre of ICBC.  

They were: Meritorious Award to "Global Market Risk Management System", "Study on Enterprise Metadata Management" and Proxime Accessit Award to seven projects - "Global Cash Management System", "Centralized Business Processing Platform", "Client Security Framework", "Credit Management System in Overseas Branches", "Audit Analysis and Monitoring System in Overseas Branches", "Host Automation Platform", "IT Risk Evaluation". Since 2000, a total of 179 ICBC technology achievements have been honored with Technology Progress Award presented by People's Bank of China. Among all the banks in China, ICBC received the most number of technology progress awards of highest order. The awards fully demonstrated ICBC's leadership in technology and innovation in the banking sector.

ICBC accelerates innovation in the use of technology to meet customer needs, said an executive with the Bank. ICBC addresses the newest financial applications under a technology-driven strategy. Through consistent efforts in enhancing risk capabilities, product innovation and service upgrade, ICBC achieves greater transformation in business development and services to customers, laying a solid foundation for ICBC to better serve the public and economy.

The winning technology achievements showcase ICBC's latest R&D, innovation and applications in financial services over the years. Regarding the technology innovation in financial services, "Global Cash Management System" allows corporate clients to use many banks around the world instead of just one bank in China. Through this system, an array of cash management services is provided for customers to manage and increase the use of company funds worldwide. In driving ICBC's management and progress, "Centralized Business Processing Platform" is a platform for running all ICBC business systems under one roof, featuring the concept of "intensive operation, shared services".

In this way, ICBC creates a new business operation framework to reduce management and operation cost while ensuring risk control. In market risk management, ICBC is the first bank in China to launch its independently developed "Global Market Risk Management System". As required by New Basel Accord, ICBC sets up one market risk management system for all domestic and overseas branches. This new system is used to identify, quantify market risk, monitor and control the whole process. "Audit Analysis and Monitoring System in Overseas Branches", "IT Risk Evaluation", "Client Security Framework", and "Host Automation Platform" cover audit in overseas branches, IT risk management, client security management and host automation. They serve the purpose of controlling risks associated with technology.

Industry insiders commented that, ICBC award-winning projects reflected the technological leadership of ICBC. Yet, ICBC's innovation, practices and applications far-outstrip in number, comprehensiveness and full range. ICBC is the first bank in China to centralize all data in one location. All ICBC production systems are automatically monitored and managed from one place. ICBC also sets up international-standard systems for disaster backup and business continuity and launches four generations of core information systems. ICBC's multi-currency, multi-lingual core business system in overseas branches across different time zones is the first such system in China.

Leveraging cutting-edge IT platform and systems, ICBC adheres to a strategy of independent innovation and embraces latest technology to drive innovation, management and product quality. In business operation, number of transactions processed through ICBC information system increases every year. At present, all ICBC branches in China process nearly 180 million transactions every day on average. Given the rocketing growth of transaction turnover, availability of ICBC IT system is always over 99.98% to ensure the stable running for 16,000+ ICBC branches, 114,000 self-service devices, 950,000+ POS. ICBC's IT system provides strong support to business operation and customer services.

In product innovation, nearly a thousand new ICBC applications are put into production every year. Over 4000 products are relevant to distinct client needs. In China, ICBC is the bank with the widest, most complete range of products and the strongest service capability. In service upgrade, ICBC launches a customer-focused business process re-engineering program which results in significant improvement in the efficiency and quality of services.