OREANDA-NEWS. November 14, 2012. Beginning from this year, ICBC has moved aggressively to support the fast and healthy growth of China's cultural sector in line with the economic restructuring. For the period ending third quarter 2012, ICBC has disbursed RMB 90 billion in loans to cultural companies, a jump of RMB 24 billion from the beginning of the year and RMB 15.198 billion year-on-year, exceeding the sum of new loans to cultural companies in 2010, 2011. New loans accounted for 36.32%. ICBC holds on to the top in domestic league table in terms of loan balance and new loans, reported the press-centre of ICBC. 

To better serve the cultural sector, ICBC keeps a close contact with the nationwide and regional cultural administrative departments and maintains good relationship with key cultural companies. Under the new approach, ICBC and cultural companies can directly talk to each other. So far, ICBC has entered strategic partnership agreements with Ministry of Culture, General Administration of Press and Publication to jointly offer innovative products and services to different cultural companies.

ICBC's financial products and services to cultural companies are "uniquely tailored" encompassing innovative products, comprehensive mechanism and services in line with the business characteristics of cultural companies. ICBC is the first bank in the country to offer "cultural + financial" services guidelines. The guidelines cover all financial services for different types of cultural companies to access ICBC loans tailored to their needs. Companies engaged in cultural arts, news publishing, radio, TV and film, emerging media, software network and computer services, advertising and exhibition, curio and art products, design services, cultural and tourism, entertainment are all welcomed to apply.

For cultural scenic spots with stable cash flow from ticketing sales and other income, ICBC provides "loans supported by income right" to more than 100 cultural scenic spots including Mountain Wudang in Hubei, Slender West Lake in Yangzhou, Xixi Wetland in Zhejiang, Mountain Sanqing in Jiangxi and Dinosaur Park in Changzhou. ICBC rolls out "Film & TV Link" service – sell account receivables collected from TV stations under account receivable factoring. Under the new service, ICBC has provided loans for the filming of 30+ TV dramas including Despair of Loving, Luogu Lane, Borrow Gun, Valliant Tiger and Eagle, Black Fox. ICBC provides "Project loans for film production" for the filming of 10+ movies including A Simple life, Great Magician, The Lion Roars II, Aftershock, The Message, Bodyguards and Assassins, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, What Women Want. For small-and-medium cultural companies, ICBC offers loans pledged under art products, "guarantee by cultural guarantee companies" as well as invoice finance, domestic factoring, account receivable finance and prepayment finance. More than 3000 small-and-medium cultural companies have borrowed from ICBC.

ICBC also provides financial services to cater specially for cultural companies in different regions. ICBC has played a role to promote the inheritance and development of China's non-material cultural heritages, regional culture and unique culture. An example, ICBC provided special integrated financial services to the embroidery art house set up by Yao Jianping, who represents state-level non-material cultural heritage (Suzhou embroidery). ICBC extended a liquidity loan of RMB 22.80 million to Yao Jianping's small company for the promotion and development of Suzhou embroidery inherited from our ancestors.