OREANDA-NEWS. January 17, 2013. ICBC becomes the first bank in the country lending over RMB 2 trillion to personal customers. Besides reinforcing its dominance in domestic league table, ICBC is now one of the leading banks in the world to provide personal loans, reported the press-centre of ICBC.

As of today, more than 25% of ICBC RMB loans go to personal loans, which plays a pivotal role in building a balanced loan portfolio and driving sustainable growth. More important, ICBC personal loans when injected into real economy are for townsfolk to spend and private business owners to fund business. The loans provide strong financial support to drive consumer demand, improve people's well-being and promote the healthy growth of real economy.

In 2009, ICBC balance of personal loans was over RMB 1 trillion and doubled in just three years, said an executive with the Bank. Main reason behind is the State policy to drive internal demand. When extending credit to personal customers, ICBC keeps in mind the national economy and the intrinsic demand of social development. More loans are provided to target recipients for their everyday expenses or business running. On another front, ICBC leverages its expertise to offer a wide spectrum of personal loan products to meet the needs of customers. Customers welcome the excellent services of ICBC. Today, ICBC is providing services to 7,740,000 personal loan customers.

Being one of the earliest banks in China to offer personal loans, over the past few years ICBC stays close to the market and steps up the effort to provide customers with innovative products and better services based on their diverse needs. The many ICBC personal loan products available today are classified into three major categories of personal housing loans, consumer loans and business loans, namely, loans for buying new house, loans for buying second-hand house, car loan (for own use), home furnishing loan, cultural expense loan, overseas study loan, student loan, business loan, commercial property loan, car loan (for commercial use), small guarantee loan for the unemployed, and small business loan.

ICBC follows special rules when extending personal housing loans for those buying their first houses. The total outstanding ICBC personal loans as of end of November, 2012 reached RMB 1.3 trillion. During the first 11 months of this year, ICBC has released 890,000 personal housing loans, out of which, 830,000 loans to home buyers are for their first houses, representing 93.26% of all personal housing loans.

To support customers to spend more and meet the increasing need of customers to spend in different ways, ICBC rolls out loans for customers to buy cars, renovate house, spend on cultural activities or study overseas. By end-November this year, ICBC's total outstanding personal consumer loans stood at RMB 367.2 billion. On top of these, "Card Loan Link" and "Online Loan Link" are highly efficient, fast and convenient services for personal customers to apply for loans using bank cards or online through Internet Banking.

While providing a wide range of consumer loans, ICBC also focuses on business loans, offering unique products tailored to different types of private business owners. An example, the small business loans provide small amount for borrowers setting up business, while "Merchant Friend Loans" are special business loans for commodity traders to buy/sell in commodity market. All these loans fully support the business growth of small-and-micro enterprises and private business owners. During the first 11 months of 2012, ICBC has released personal business loan to a total of RMB 218.8 billion, a jump of RMB 26.1 billion from a year earlier, or 13.54%.