Bank of China already donated over RMB 123 million in the form of cash and supplies for the Sichuan quake-hit areas in the name of its branches and individual employees both at home and abroad as of May 27, 2008, and the donation along with the group-wide "special Party membership dues" initiative is still going on, according to Wang Zhaowen, spokesman of Bank of China.
Wang Zhaowen says that the bank's over 260,000 employees at home and abroad have been deeply concerned about the quake-hit areas since the breakout of the quake in Wenchuan on May 12. In addition to the disaster relief effort of its Sichuan Branch, the entire bank, from top leaders to ordinary employees, from the Head Office to branches, from home to abroad, pays the highest attention to the victims. To share burdens with the affected enterprises and help the people tide over the difficulty, the bank has carried out a series of financial service programs and post-quake reconstruction.
On a special post-quake reconstruction meeting held by Bank of China on May 22, the bank decided to take nine financial service measures dedicated to the disaster areas, including special policies for borrowers unable to repay loans on schedule due to the disaster, priority to handle personal loan applications with intra-day reply, and the most preferential interest rate within the range permitted by regulatory policies. All these measures for insured financial service are intended to protect the interests of the disaster affected people and enterprises and help recover the production and normal life in the disaster areas.
Bank of China has opened a "green credit channel" to support enterprises in early recovery of production and ensure the credit support for earthquake relief and post-quake reconstruction through faster and more efficient loan application acceptance, approval and disbursement. In particular, greater credit support has been given to industries and customers heavily involved in earthquake relief such as power grid, road transportation, construction, telecommunication, water and gas supply, hospitals and schools. On May 26, Bank of China decided to provide a credit line up to RMB 30 billion to the Dongfang Electric Corporation, the most affected government-owned enterprise, for the early recovery of production, operation and plant reconstruction of the latter, with a promised favorable interest rate 10% lower than the benchmark rate. In addition to the loan, Bank of China will provide financing and credit support for Dongfang in the field of inward and outward bill, performance guarantee, L/C and trade finance through its global service network.
Bank of China has deployed 30 ATMs at the "tent outlets" and "mobile outlets" set up by the Sichuan Branch to meet customers' temporary and urgent financial needs. Meanwhile, for some badly affected areas, Bank of China provides urgent cash withdrawal and loss report service for customers who are in urgent need of money or inter-city loss report but are unable to provide their identity documents or passbooks. In the hardest hit areas including Dujiangyan, Mianzhu, Pengzhou, Shifang, Jiangyou, Anxian and Chongzhou, urgent and formal loss report of passbooks, deposit receipts and debit cards is allowed after relevant information verification with the customers. Those unable to provide their passbooks or deposit receipts are allowed to withdraw a maximum of RMB 5,000 after verification of the identity information and account password. As a prompt response to the Emergency Notice on Writing off Bad Bank Loans Caused by Wenchuan Earthquake by China Banking Regulatory Commission on May 23, Bank of China accepted the first application for home mortgage loan insolvency submitted by an individual customer in Guangyuan, Sichuan on May 25.
Bank of China took urgent action to support earthquake donation. Right after the breakout of the Sichuan earthquake, the bank wasted no time in opening a "green channel for global donations" and donation counters at more than 10,000 outlets at home and abroad so that donors can enjoy priority in remittance regardless of the amount. For money remitted to donation accounts announced by the media and local governments and for individual donations to Chengdu, Mianyang, Deyang, Aba and Guangyuan, no handling fee is charged. It's worth noting that the bank's more than 600 overseas branches have become the frontier for overseas Chinese, staff of Chinese companies and institutions and foreign friends to donate money of compassion. Batches and batches of donations have been remitted to the quake-hit areas in Sichuan via the bank's overseas branches. On the evening of May 25 (London time), "My Dream", a dance performed by China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe, made a successful debut in its British charity tour at Her Majesty's Theatre, the most renowned one in London, with Bank of China's sponsorship. After the performance, troupe director Tai Lihua, with the help of a sign language translator, expressed her heartfelt gratitude to Bank of China's generous support to which the British tour and the worriless performance was attributable, saying that the entire income of the performance will be donated to the disaster areas in Sichuan.
As the post-disaster reconstruction needs more help, Bank of China will be fully committed to the disaster relief while enhancing its own operation in line with the call of the Central Party Committee and the State Council so as to win a thorough victory over the disaster together with the people in the quake-hit areas, said Wang Zhaowen.
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