OREANDA-NEWS. August 14, 2013. For the past few years, China's cultural industry is about in full swing. Cultural companies are making progress and following the best route to gain competitiveness. They are ready to "go global" and compete in the international market.

During this process, ICBC continues lending support to outstanding cultural companies backed by its global network, cutting-edge technology and financial strength. Putian City Jiyou Arts & Frames Co., Ltd. ("Jiyou") is an export company in Fujian engaged in R&D, production and sales of art products: oil paintings, wooden frames and art products made of resin. Jiyou, the largest exporter of oil paintings in China, has 100+ sales offices in USA, United Kingdom, France and the Middle East. To support Jiyou's overseas expansion, ICBC offers a unique suite of financial services for Jiyou's production of Chinese oil paintings and wooden frames. The ICBC Liquidity loan and factoring totaling RMB 45.30 million have given Jiyou liquidity to expand outside China.

Jiyou is only one of the many cultural companies in China to receive financial support from ICBC. ICBC has built partnership with nearly 40,000 cultural companies in China who have borrowed more than RMB 200 billion from ICBC. In the first half of this year, cultural sector continued to be an emerging market that ICBC was prioritizing. ICBC's total outstanding loans to this sector reached RMB 117 billion for the period ending June this year, up RMB 13.9 billion from the beginning of the year, or 13.47%. In China, ICBC continues to be the largest commercial bank in extending loan to cultural companies.

An ICBC official said, ICBC aligns the need of financial services from cultural companies by offering a wide range of differentiated, branded products, with a special focus on outstanding, large-scale cultural companies with good corporate governance, clear strategy to move forward, sound financial system and a strong team. The goal is to provide the best financial services to this market segment. ICBC is the first bank in China to roll out "Cultural + Financial" product manual and comprehensive service solutions to meet the needs of financial services from cultural companies. A suite of 10 categories of financial products and services is designed for cultural companies in different areas: cultural tourism, cable TV, TV and film production, cinema, art products, advertising, gold and jewelry.

Meanwhile, ICBC offers professional, exclusive and unique "Cultural + Financial" services. There are many cultural companies in China engaged in different businesses which can be "light assets" or "heavy assets". In view of this, ICBC offers "unique" options to deliver a full spectrum of financial services to cultural companies with different types, in different scale, at different stages of development. That include "Film & TV Link" (supply chain finance), "Collective loan + copyright pledge + joint guarantee by the person who actually controls the company", "direct investment + credit", "loan backed by fixed asset + closed management on income account". ICBC also provides financial services customized to the needs of 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 cultures while supporting the development of the cultural companies. 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.

Besides loans, ICBC also extends its service range and offers innovative financial products and services to different types of cultural companies, including debt instruments for raising capital, corporate wealth management, electronic banking, bank card and cash management. Examples: The ICBC China Travel Card jointly issued by ICBC, China UnionPay and China National Tourism Administration enables cardholders to enjoy special services and discounts in tourist spots, hotels, insurance and shopping. In Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Tianjin, ICBC cooperates with cable TV companies to launch TV-bank (digital TV bank), a service for millions of families to bank on TV without going to ICBC outlets. ICBC also sets up a platform for customers to buy tickets of t3.com.cn's art performances nationwide. All these significantly show the strong financial support and excellent services of ICBC to cultural companies.