OREANDA-NEWS. January 22, 2013. "I pay my phone bills online when others still queue up at the outlet to pay", said Ms. Liu while she was buying train ticket at ICBC Internet Banking to go home during Spring Festival Holiday, talking about her use of "Mobile Banking". Ms. Liu is a white-collar worker, she hardly has the time to go to bank. "I seldom go to bank, at most once or twice a year. I do my banking through online banking, mobile banking or self-service banking", reported the press-centre of ICBC.

Nowadays, more and more people "do their banking" like Ms. Liu. This is proven by the data on the number of customers in different service channels supplied by ICBC, the earliest bank in China to launch electronic banking with the largest market share. In 2012, turnover of ICBC electronic banking transactions was a staggering RMB 333 trillion, a 17.2% increase over the previous year. 37 billion online transactions in the period represented a 21% jump over the same period a year ago. ICBC has over 75% retail transaction volume run through its online banking platform. This means online transactions in ICBC accounted for 3 in every 4 transactions.

ICBC has set up a service network including Internet Banking, Telephone Banking, Mobile Banking, TV Banking as well as self-service banking, said an executive with the Bank. In electronic banking, over a hundred new products are launched every year. ICBC ranks No.1 when it comes to Corporate Internet Banking, 95588 Telephone Banking, USB-Shield, code card. Today, ICBC's Personal Internet Banking offers 400+ services under 23 categories covering account management, transfer/remittance, bill payment, personal wealth management, buying/selling of FX, stocks/funds, precious metal investment, online loan, ICBC Messenging. To customers, they can easily conduct most of their banking business at home. In terms of convenience, ICBC is truly moving from "A Bank around You" to "A Bank at Your Home", having the most diverse products and functions in electronic banking in China.

In order to distinguish from other banks to serve customers, ICBC actively promotes banking services for all mobile phone users, given the prevalence of mobile communication and wireless network. ICBC is the first bank in the country to roll out "ICBC Mobile Banking" services, which represent a wide range of ICBC mobile financial products: SMS Banking, Mobile Banking (WAP), iPhone Banking, Android Banking, WindowsPhone Banking, iPad Banking, Personal Internet Banking for Apple computer users, and Corporate Mobile Banking. An example is the innovative Mobile Banking functions which are mostly welcomed by the customers. ICBC uses the GPS (Global Positioning System) function of mobile phones to deliver useful information and navigation directions such as location of nearest bank outlets, banking hours. The mobile terminals combined with gravity sensor and multi-touch let customers experience faster and trendy mobile services. At present, ICBC's Mobile Banking witnesses breakneck growth. At the end of 2012, ICBC had over 70 million mobile banking users, a 55% increase from the same period last year. Transaction turnover jumped nearly 16-fold.

Industry veterans comment that online financial services are already a trend. Online banking allows customers to change the way they bank and banks to change the way they serve customers. Through Internet Banking, Telephone Banking, Mobile Banking and self-service devices, many of us do banking online instead of at the bank outlet. Online banking services bring great convenience to customers, no need to queue up at the bank outlet, saving commuting expense to bank. Banks can provide services faster without using paper vouchers or other resources. Online banking plays a significant role in driving paperless financial services. ICBC changes from a traditional bank to a bank of "mouse + cement", a modern bank offering services via electronic banking and physical outlets in parallel. ICBC is leading the way in moving to electronic finance, green finance while keep improving its capability and standard to serve the customers.

Leveraging electronic banking as a service platform, ICBC moves faster in innovation on products and services, backed by cutting-edge technology, said an executive with the Bank. ICBC strives to build electronic banking with rich products and functions and strong service capacity, offering customers good experience and excellent modern financial services, faster, more convenient, safe and highly efficient.