Icbc business Review

Financial Highlights
As at the end of 2019, total assets of the Bank amounted to RMB30,109,436 million, RMB2,409,896 million or 8.7% higher than that at the end of the previous year. Total liabilities reached RMB27,417,433 million, an increase of RMB2,062,776 million or 8.1% compared with the end of last year. In 2019, the Bank realized a net profit of RMB313,361 million, representing an increase of RMB14,638 million or 4.9% as compared to the previous year. Return on average total assets stood at 1.08%, and return on weighted average equity was 13.05%, the core tier 1 capital adequacy ratio, tier 1 capital adequacy ratio and capital adequacy ratio calculated by the Bank in accordance with the Capital Regulation stood at 13.20%, 14.27% and 16.77%, respectively. Operating income amounted to RMB776,002 million, representing an increase of 7.0%, of which, net interest income grew by 6.0% to RMB606,926 million; the cost-to-income ratio was 25.79%.
Corporate Banking
At the end of 2019, the number of corporate customers increased by 1,065 thousand over the end of the previous year to 8,098 thousand.
1.Corporate deposits and loans. At the end of 2019, the balance of corporate loans reached RMB9,955,821 million, representing an increase of RMB536,927 million or 5.7%. The balance of corporate deposits hit RMB12,028,262 million, representing an increase of RMB547,121 million or 4.8%.
2.Inclusive Finance. At the end of 2019, the balance of inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises amounted to RMB471,521 million, representing an increase of RMB161,407 million or 52.0% from the year beginning. There were 423 thousand micro and small enterprise loan customers, up 153 thousand. The average interest rate of loans granted in the year decreased by 0.43 percentage points over the prior year to 4.52%. By the end of 2019, there were 288 small and micro enterprise banking centers across the Bank. A comprehensive inclusive financial service system was constructed with the focus on the ICBC Small and Micro Finance Platform and three financing product categories including Quick Lending for Operation, Online Revolving Loan and Online Supply Chain.
3.Institutional Banking. The Bank propped up the e-reform of income and expenditure accounts of national treasury, enhanced the capabilities of serving fiscal departments and budgetary units at all levels, and deeply explored the growth potential of institutional customers in the fields of medical care, education, labor union, religion, public resources, land and resources, housing and construction. The “intelligent government affairs” system was innovated and promoted, to push forward the implementation of multi-engine business cooperation structure consisting of “1 government affairs portal, 12 key extension areas and 22 value-added services”.
4.Settlement and Cash Management. The Bank improved its corporate payment and settlement system, to serve diversified settlement scenes.It promoted its global cash management platform, and deepened its global business by virtue of the Bank’s international strategy, to build a global cash management business system. At the end of 2019, the Bank maintained 9,443 thousand corporate settlement accounts, representing an increase of 13.5% over the end of the previous year, and the volume of RMB-denominated corporate settlements reached RMB2,399 trillion in the year. There were 1,426 thousand cash management customers, and 7,973 global cash management customers, representing an increase of 9.5%.
5.International Settlement and Trade Finance. The Bank actively cooperated with the General Administration of Customs to fully participate in the construction of financial service function projects for the “single window” international trade platform. It reinforced the special management of forfaiting business, and promoted the interbank cooperation. In 2019, domestic branches disbursed an aggregate of USD50,895 million in international trade finance. International settlements amounted to USD2,988,556 million, of which USD1,205,334 million was handled by overseas institutions.
6.Investment Banking. The Bank stepped up the M&A loan support in key fields such as listed companies, industry M&A, reform of state-owned enterprises and the Belt and Road Initiative. The ICBC New Energy (Technical Innovation) Fund and ICBC New Energy (Debt-for-equity) Fund were established in batches. The Bank further upgraded its financial advisory service product system. Five major functions including Research, Expert, Information, Forum and Consulting were put into use on the E-Intelligence think tank. In 2019, the Bank acted as the lead underwriter for 1,802 Chinese bond projects with a total value of RMB1,517,350 million, preserving its No. 1 position in the market in terms of domestic leading underwriting scale.