▲The Scene of the Bid Opening Ceremony

On April 1, 2005, China Construction Bank (CCB) won the bidding as the collecting agency of non-tax revenue for the central finance. It is the second successful biding by CCB in the centralized collection and payment business for the national treasury following the successful bidding as the agent bank of the authorized payment for the central finance.

On March 30, the Ministry of Finance held the bid opening ceremony for the collection of non-tax revenue of the central finance in Beijing Century Jinyuan Hotel. 12 domestic commercial banks with qualification authorized by the People’s Bank of China participated in this bid, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, CITIC Industrial Bank, China Merchants Bank Co., LTD, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Everbright Bank of China, Huaxia Bank, Shenzhen Development Bank Co., LTD.

President Chang Zhenming attended the bid opening ceremony on behalf of China Construction Bank and presented the bidding scheme at the scene. Assistant President Chen Zuofu and heads of related departments of the headquarters were also present at the ceremony.

The collection of non-tax revenue for the central finance is an important part of the reform in the national treasury management system. It is also an important business involving thousands of collection executing bodies across China and thousands of collecting items adding up to RMB 300 billion. In 2002, the Ministry of Finance undertook the reform in this field and decided to select the agent bank through bidding.

In 2005, with the deepening of reform and the development of business, the Ministry of Finance decided to re-select the agent bank through bidding. Having received the bidding invitation from the Ministry of Finance in March, the party committee of the headquarters of CCB attached great importance to it and immediately organized the bidding working group led by the General Manager of the Institutional Banking Department and composed of backbone staffs. President Chang Zhenming led the working group by himself to carry out consultations, negotiations and communications with leaders of the Ministry of Finance. He also listened to the reports made by the bidding working group several times. With the earnest preparation for almost 20 days, the bidding document with nearly 20 thousand words has been completed, making CCB ready to participate in this bidding.

This business involves the relations between multiple parties including the Ministry of Finance, collection executing agencies, payers and the agent bank and requires that all collected funds must be transferred to the special account of the central finance through the internal fund system of the bank on a daily basis and that the large amount of attached information must be uploaded as well, which puts a tough requirement upon every business process of the agent bank, including account opening and management, fund remittance, transfer and clearance, account check, information feedback and risk control. CCB boasts such advantages as sound organization, strong leadership, strict internal control system, sufficient competent staffs and departments, advanced and mature system and rich service experiences. Therefore, having gone through the strict evaluation of the Ministry of Finance, CCB won the bidding as the agent bank. The comprehensive development of this service in CCB will bring the substantive fund flow on a yearly basis, considerable fund deposition and related high-quality client groups.

The Ministry of Finance undertook a series of reform in the national treasury management system since 2001. CCB has been all along paying close attention to the reform and to various new agent businesses. We have successfully won the qualification as the agent of the authorized payment for the central finance and maintained No.1 status in terms of market shares. The successful biding as the collecting agency of non-tax revenue for the central finance will not only open up a new field for CCB to develop agent businesses but also provide favorable conditions for our branches at all levels to strive to serve as the collection agency of non-tax revenue for local finance.