As the sole bank partner of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games that attracted worldwide attention, Bank of China completely fulfilled its commitment of offering the best banking services, and successfully completed all tasks assigned. It has won unanimous praises from customers both at home and abroad for its achievements of "no complaint and no service error". The World Expo, generally known as the economic, technological and cultural "Olympic Games", will be held in Shanghai, China in May 2010. As another grand event hosted by China after Beijing Olympic Games, the financial services for the Shanghai World Expo will no doubt become the focus of public attention.
As one of China's most international commercial banks, Bank of China has accumulated valuable experience in banking services during the Beijing Olympic Games. This time what services would the bank provide in the Shanghai World Expo?
Serving the World Expo as an Obligation
The World Expo, a far-reaching international exhibition, has a history of over 150 years from its first opening in London in 1851. High-quality financial services have been becoming an essential part of a successful Expo. As a "century-old brand" in China's banking industry, Bank of China has played a very significant role in China's financial history over the past century. It set up the first overseas branch of its kind in London in 1929. Drawing upon its professional financial services in both foreign exchange trade and RMB business, the bank has provided financial services for many international events over years of financial development and customer services.
Bank of China has provided financial services for almost every international convention or exhibition held in Shanghai, including the Fortune Forum and APEC Meetings. From friendly bilingual services and convenient facilities in venues to the diversified products and self-service outlets around the city, its professional and considerate services have impressed the conference organizers and overseas participants. As for professional exhibitions, Bank of China Shanghai Branch has actively attended the East China Fair for 19 consecutive years since its initiation in 1991. The financial services provided for import and export enterprises have developed from settlement transactions to a package of solutions integrating trade finance, international settlement and payment facilities.
Bank of China and the World Expo has a time-honored relationship. Since the reform and opening up in 1978, China has sent delegations to the World Expo for nine times, where China's governmental groups, exhibition enterprises and other participants all have enjoyed the financial services from Bank of China.
Hosting the World Expo 2010 is not only an honor for the Chinese nation, but also a grand event for Shanghai since its founding over 700 years ago. In the live program jointly broadcast by CNR and Shanghai Radio for the one-year countdown to the Shanghai World Expo, Bank of China Shanghai Branch stated, "Shanghai is the host of the World Expo 2010, so Bank of China Shanghai Branch and all the other financial firms in Shanghai are duty-bound to serve the World Expo. Drawing upon its worldwide network, steady operation, solid strength, and rich experiences, the bank will provide high-quality services for the World Expo."
Steadfastly Funding Expo Construction
The Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination was established in late October 2003, marking the commencement of preparations for the World Expo 2010. Under the guidance of Bank of China Head Office, Shanghai Branch closely followed the progress of the World Expo projects and positively took part in all crucial links to provide loans, trade finance and other financial services for the construction of related urban facilities. Over the past years, the branch has, in line with relevant state policies, made great contributions to the infrastructure construction in Shanghai through cooperation with leading enterprises in key industries, including Shanghai Chengtou Corporation, Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai Shentong Metro Co., Ltd., Shanghai Rainbow Investment Corporation, and Expoland. The total volume under such cooperation has exceeded RMB 46 billion, covering road bridges, environment protection, water treatment, rail transport, the Hongqiao Transportation Line and other projects. The branch participated in the syndicated loan as a lead bank for two major supporting projects of the World Expo last year, the Middle Ring Line (Pudong section) project and the North Passage of Pudong Airport, financing RMB 13.079 billion.
The global financial crisis broken out in 2008 impacted the economy of many countries to different degrees. To help Shanghai address the financial crisis and ensure the smooth preparation for the World Expo, Bank of China Shanghai Branch further intensified financial support to the World Expo, urban construction, leading enterprises as well as projects related to people's livelihood from the fourth quarter of last year in accordance with relevant state policies on expanding domestic demand and promoting economic growth, including allocating credit funds preferentially for key projects, and leading and mobilizing the bank consortium in financing RMB 12 billion for the eight Cross-Huangpu River Tunnel Projects within Shanghai Outer Ring Road. As the important construction projects in the 11th Five-Year Plan for Shanghai Urban Roads and Highways, the completion of these projects will greatly improve the traffic conditions in Pudong and Puxi during the World Expo, as well as Shanghai's economic radiation capability.
With the approaching of the World Expo 2010, Bank of China Shanghai Branch has started to make relevant preparations. As for corporate financial services, in addition to the loans and trade finance services provided for construction of supporting facilities in the cities involved in the World Expo at early stages, the branch continues to deploy and optimize the process of corporate business from cash management, daily settlement, trust wealth management and other daily services, so as to perfect financial services for the World Expo and relevant enterprises.
Providing Quality Services for Customers at Home and Abroad
Counter service is the business card of the Expo 2010 Shanghai. After the successful conclusion of the Beijing Olympic Games, domestic and overseas attention has turned to the Shanghai World Expo. With the acceleration of the implementation of the "two financial centers" strategy in Shanghai, the financial services have been a vital part of Expo preparation. In the 600-Day Action Plan for the Opening of the Shanghai World Expo, it is clearly put forward that local financial institutions must make efforts to improve their services in level, quality and standard in the coming 600 days, providing convenient, efficient, civilized and quality financial services for global Expo participants and local residents.
Bank of China Head Office also attaches great importance to providing better services for the World Expo. The Head Office leaders led by Chairman Xiao Gang, have visited Shanghai for several times. According to the Head Office's instructions and deployment, Bank of China Shanghai Branch has taken positive actions, based on its experiences during Beijing Olympic Games, to provide comprehensive financial services for key enterprises of Expo construction and further strengthen quality counter services in accordance with the 600-Day Action Plan for the Opening of the Shanghai World Expo.
Currently, Bank of China Shanghai Branch has been "focusing on services to greet the World Expo" for the time being and future periods, involving all aspects of its business development and customer services. The branch has set up a banking service group for the opening of Shanghai World Expo, and formulated a scheme against the Bank of China Shanghai Branch's Implementation of the 600-Day Action Plan for Shanghai's Financial Institutions to Greet the Expo in line with specific conditions.
Surveys show that 63% of the customers are sensitive to the convenience of services, namely, the service response speed is the most important factor. Consequently, Bank of China Shanghai Branch simplified the procedures of personal business as much as possible in light of "convenience" and "efficiency", including the application form for new account, application form for personal information change, and foreign exchange settlement and sale. As a result, the processing time and customers' waiting time were reduced. At the same time of accelerating hardware innovation at outlets, the branch, with "software" improvement as the focus, also selected 100 representative outlets to integrate the process of sales and services, further realizing service potential and strengthening staff's awareness of job responsibilities.
In consideration of large flow of customers and great number of foreign transactions at outlets during the World Expo, Bank of China Shanghai Branch strengthened the quality control of service procedures by means of intensified training and inspection, so as to gradually improve customer satisfaction. All the outlets under the branch further reinforced training for counter service personnel in civility, World Expo knowledge and language capability, targeting a service with smile and response throughout the whole business, so the service philosophy of "customer first, service foremost" can be practically implemented. Huaihai Middle Road Second Sub-Branch of Bank of China Shanghai Branch won the Pre-Expo Contribution Award granted by Shanghai Social Mobilization Headquarter for Greeting the World Expo in 600 Days early this year.
Furthermore, the branch invited external quality evaluation institutions to objectively evaluate the financial services of such counter in the form of secret investigation by a "mystery customer", in accordance with the model service quality index of Shanghai banking industry. With such assessment, the branch got an overall understanding of customer satisfaction to improve its service quality for greeting the World Expo.
Setting a New Benchmark for Expo Financial Services Based on Olympic Service Experiences
Based on its successful service experiences from the Beijing Olympic Games and unique comparative advantages, Bank of China will provide "domestically advanced, internationally acknowledged and satisfied" financial services to customers during the Shanghai Expo, as well as show its good image to the world. During the Beijing Olympic Games, to better serve Shanghai Olympic Football Match, Bank of China opened an Olympic Green Channel to offer preferential services to those Olympic participation cardholders. Similarly, Bank of China Shanghai Branch will launch the Expo Green Channel and open Expo service counters in qualified outlets to promptly handle transactions for people with relevant Expo certificates and media reporters.
Moreover, to further provide superior-quality financial services for the World Expo 2010, Bank of China Shanghai Branch will set up a batch of demonstration outlets to spur an overall improvement in World Expo financial services at all its outlets in Shanghai; improve the service standard of outlets in the Expo park, Expo villages, the surrounding areas, the main commercial streets and other key areas in Shanghai; allocate more temporary service counters, business posts, system maintenance and logistics support personnel and volunteers; formulate emergency response processes for the over-the-counter business in key areas, and conduct drills if necessary. Over 160 outlets across residential areas and business districts will open on weekends, while those at Pudong Airport and Hongqiao Airport will open every day during the World Expo, providing all-round services for domestic and foreign visitors.
To further improve the capability of providing foreign exchange services, Bank of China Shanghai Branch added Bank of China Foreign Exchange Exit-Entry Financial Service Center in Bund, Pudong, Jing'an, Xuhui, Changning, Putuo and Yangpu sub-branches, thus forming a citywide Bank of China Foreign Exchange service system, consisting of Bank of China Foreign Exchange Exit-Entry Financial Service Center, Bank of China Foreign Exchange Center and Bank of China foreign exchange counters. All the 200-plus Bank of China outlets across Shanghai can provide domestic and foreign customers with exchange services for 17 foreign currencies, including USD, JPY, EUR and HKD, into RMB, and purchases of 12 foreign currencies. To better serve international friends, business representatives and international students, Bank of China Foreign Exchange Exit-Entry Financial Service Center will provide customers with Overseas Personal Financial Service Leaflets in both Chinese and English, as well as other product leaflets in multinational languages during the World Expo.
In addition, the customer service center of Bank of China Shanghai Branch will provide customers with an integrated, multi-lingual, 24/7 financial service platform, including 24/7 services in English, 12/7 services in Japanese and so on. To create an optimized bank card payment environment, Bank of China has included starred hotels, catering, entertainment, shopping merchants around the Expo pavilions, as well as merchants around the airports and transport stations that are possibly accessed by tourists during the Expo in its list of 2009-2010 acquiring merchants.
As there are less than 200 days to go before the World Expo 2010 Shanghai, all preparations have entered the final sprint. In an exclusive interview after Beijing Olympic Games, Bank of China Chairman Xiao Gang said, "serving the Olympic Games has greatly improved our services and we'll continue to do so. The duration of the Olympic Games is short but our services will last forever." The World Expo 2010 Shanghai provides Shanghai's banking industry with a platform for showing the charm of its financial services. Drawing upon its international networks and professional advantages in providing financial services for the Olympic Games, Bank of China will fulfill its commitment to integrate safe, efficient, satisfied and innovative services into its World Expo services, showing its quality services to the world.
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