Implementing the Overall Development Strategy and Accelerating Shareholding Reform

The Work Conference of China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) was held in Beijing today. All staff throughout CCB was required to make joint efforts to work energetically in a down-to-earth manner and make rapid progress centering on the major task of implementing the overall development strategy so that they can make more contributions to the transformation towards a modern joint-stock commercial bank. Board Chairman Zhang Enzhao and President Chang Zhenming delivered important speeches respectively. 

This Conference was the first work meeting throughout the whole bank after the establishment of China Construction Bank Corporation. Major topics of this Conference were to summarize CCB’s achievements and lessons in 2004 and to discuss and arrange the whole bank’s operation objectives and main work schedule in 2005 in line with the implementation of the overall development strategy.

Reviewing the operation and management achievements in 2004, Zhang Enzhao pointed out that in 2004, CCB had faithfully made practice in the light of important thought of the Three Represents, actively implemented the guiding principles of the 16th CPC National Congress, the Third Session and the Fourth Session of the Sixteenth Central Committee of the Party, wholeheartedly carried out national macro control policies in line with the guidance of the Central Economic Work Conference and the National Banking, Securities and Insurance Work Conference, capitalized on the important opportunity to promote the structure reform and mechanism transformation in a steady manner centering on restructuring schedule and focused on strengthening risk management and internal control as well as increasing asset quality in accordance with the requirement of working towards a modern financial institution, made lots of efforts in reducing NPLs and facilitating technological progress and financial innovation, improved service quality and actively taped the market. In this way, all businesses enjoyed a rapid growth, asset quality and operating efficiency achieved an improvement and major operation index scored a best achievement in the last year.

2004 is a milestone year for CCB. The whole bank has scored the following outstanding achievements: CCB has made a tangible accomplishment in shareholding reform, established the initial framework of corporate governance structure, received some results in mechanism and structure reform; CCB has nailed down the development strategy throughout the whole bank, which provide the guidance for the sound development; CCB has faithfully put the scientific development philosophy into practice, and actively implemented national macro control policies so that all businesses saw a sound and stable development; and CCB has made another step to standardize internal management and improved risk management and internal control. All these achievements laid a solid foundation for promoting this year’s shareholding reform and business growth.

This Conference stressed that 2005 is an implementing year for CCB to achieve development strategy, a reforming year for CCB to change its mechanism and structure, and also a key year for CCB to make public offering. The major task for CCB is to implement the overall development strategy, and accelerate the transformation towards a modern shareholding commercial bank. The overall work schedule is: putting into practice the guiding principles of the Third Session and the Fourth Session of the Sixteenth Central Committee of the Party, the Central Economic Work Conference under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents, centering on the objective of becoming a most valuable and creative bank to implement the overall strategy development and facilitate management structure reform; speeding up products and technology innovation, improving service quality and core competitiveness, and maintaining steady business growth; strengthening risk management and internal control, and continuing to increase asset quality; enhancing management and staff training, promoting operation efficiency and profitability to score more achievements, and to meet the requirement of examination index set by the China Banking Regulatory Commission; making efforts to make public offering and lay a solid foundation for becoming a modern shareholding commercial bank that can compete in the international market.

Zhang Enzhao said, 2005 is a key year during which CCB will maintain a sound development and implement scientific development philosophy, and also will make more efforts in shareholding reform to transform CCB’s mechanism to make public offering.   In order to accomplish this year’s operating objective and tasks and address existing problems in management, CCB will improve corporate governance structure, strengthen risk management and internal control, increase the overall operating level, enhance products and service innovation, upgrade information technology to better support management, and improve staff profession. CCB’s operating objective and major tasks are: first, faithfully implementing development strategy and putting it into practice, accelerating the establishment of a mechanism of the modern financial institution; second, actively preparing CCB to make public offering, and drawing upon this opportunity to further reform governance structure so that a sound and standardized governance structure can be set up; third, promoting management mechanism reform such as organizational structure, internal auditing and risk management framework, and human resources in the light of the requirement of the modern financial institution; fourth, persisting on ‘two reduction’ work, introducing all effective measures to prevent NPLs increase and making efforts to reduce NPL ratio; fifth, implementing national macro control policies, speeding up business innovation and facilitating business growth in a steady manner; sixth, improving management and staff profession capability to ensure the success of shareholding reform; seventh, enhancing the advanced company culture to offer bolster for CCB’s reform and development.

Chang Zhenming made the arrangement for carrying out operating objective and major tasks. They are: first, actively promoting management structure reform including auditing management mechanism, vertical risk management system and organizational structure; second, introducing strategic investors and finishing IPO preparing work as soon as possible, and improving corporate governance with China’s characteristics; third, attaching more importance to marketing, strengthening branches cooperation, and promoting joint marketing and work among different business lines including corporate banking, retail banking, intermediary business, so that all businesses can be developed coordinately and efficiency can be improved; fourth, through risk management structure reform, enhancing risk management and internal control; fifth, according to the requirement of shareholding reform and strategy implementation, putting more efforts onto finance policies that can better serve business growth and structure adjustment; sixth, accelerating information technology development and financial innovation to effectively support business structure transformation and improve long-term profitability throughout the whole bank; seventh, creating an advanced company culture to make more contributions to CCB’s growth.