OREANDA-NEWS. November 11, 2013. In September this year, CBRC sponsored and organized a Campaign of Financial Training Month of the Banking Sector, namely, "promoting the financial knowledge among tens of thousands of families", with the aim of further enhancing the understanding of financial consumers towards the banking products and services and increasing the public awareness of financial security, and thus enabling the public to really enjoy the convenience from banking products and financial instruments.

In the course of the national-wide public benefit campaign that all banking financial institutions get involved in, CDB, together with other banks, utilize its professional knowledge and rich resources and combine with its own characteristics and the actual situations to seriously carry out a multi-perspective and multi-form campaign for financial knowledge promotion, which has received good results. While promoting the financial knowledge and disseminated the concept for protecting the rights and interests of financial consumers, CDB effectively improved its financial service awareness and service level.

I.     Implementing the promotion and instruction of financial knowledge is of great significance at this stage

First, banks attached importance to implementing the promotion and instruction of financial knowledge for the purpose of adhering to the people-oriented policy and effectively protecting the rights and interests of the financial consumers. At present, strengthening the rights and interests protection of the financial consumers has become an international consensus and development trend. Experience and lessons learned from the global financial crisis reveal that the outbreak of the crisis is closely linked to inadequate education and insufficient protection provided by financial institutions for financial consumers. The effective protection of the rights and interests of the financial consumers is an important foundation to maintain the stability of the financial system. Seeing from China's current situations, financial products and service innovation change quickly along with the rapid development of the banking sector, with increased specialties. As banks exert stronger influence on the life of the public, the public has increasingly close dependence on banks. At this stage, asymmetric information is prominent in the financial sector. As the public lacks basic financial knowledge, it would be significant for banks to strengthen the promotion and instruction of financial knowledge, so as to better fulfill its social responsibilities, improve the quality and level of financial services. The promotion and instruction of financial knowledge can provide consumers with the necessary knowledge, skills and tools, and thus enabling them to make rational financial decisions based on the information obtained and avoid impacts of undesirable market behavior. Therefore, promotion and instruction of financial knowledge is an important part of the consumer protection system, and meanwhile is the important foundation to create a favorable financial environment for consumption and maintenance of financial stability, while boosting the financial inclusion and financial stability objective.

Second, the promotion and instruction of financial knowledge is one important practice of banks to carry out the Party's mass line policy, fulfill the social responsibility, and actively serve the wellbeing of the people. The Eighteenth National Congress of the CPC proposed that "we should bring as much benefit as possible to the people, resolve as many difficulties as possible for them, and solve the most pressing and real problems of the greatest concern to them", "we have strived to ensure and improve the people's wellbeing, promoted social fairness and justice and worked to build a harmonious world." Banking financial institutions shall, based on social responsibility, enhance the public's understanding of the financial knowledge, improve the information transparency of banking products and services, effectively meet the financial demands of consumers, guide and nurture the public's financial awareness and risk prevention awareness, and better achieve the organic integration of economic and social benefits of the banking. Ensure the right-to-know, free-choice right and fair-dealing right of financial consumers for banking financial products are fully respected and effectively protected, by means of carrying out a continuous and universal promotion of financial knowledge to the public, which is an inherent requirement to fulfill the social responsibility and foundation condition to build a harmonious and stable financial ecosystem. Extensive and in-depth promotion and instruction of financial knowledge is a system engineering to serve the wellbeing of the people, responding to the actual needs of the financial consumers, and is also an important initiative for banks to actively carry out the Party's mass educational practices.

Third, the promotion and instruction of financial knowledge is an important initiative for banks to adhere to the scientific development and standardize the operations, and effectively enhance the operation management and financial service level. The full and effective satisfaction of consumers' growing demands for financial services is the impetus and resource for banks to make innovation on the banking and financial products and services. Banks act as the financial services providers to carry out the publicity of financial knowledge extensively, deeply and persistently, which is conducive to improving the public's understanding and knowledge on banking products and services, achieving legal reasonable transaction of banking products and services on a basis of fairness and impartiality, thereby enhancing banking service quality, raising the development potential and increasing the financial stability and financial operational safety. We established a long-term mechanism for the extension of financial knowledge and consumer education, implemented the promotion and instruction of financial knowledge throughout the daily financial services activities, and improved the consciousness and initiative of the promotion and instruction of financial knowledge, so as to enable the banking financial institutions to continuously improve the financial services quality, attract more consumers to reasonably and safely use financial products and services, foster the stable and sustainable customer resources and realize mutual benefit and win-win between consumers and banks.

II.    Major events of CDB in the Campaign of Financial Training Month

As China 's first state-owned bank joining the UN "Global Compact" program, CDB has been committed to social responsibility and implemented the basic principles of social responsibility throughout the Bank's development strategy, business strategy, business processes and corporate culture. The active implementation of financial training campaign is another important manifestation of CDB's fulfillment of social responsibility. During the Campaign of Household Financial Training in the Banking Sector, namely, "instructing tens of thousands of families in financial knowledge", we made innovative forms and rich contents to enhance the effectiveness and actively pushed forward the work in the Bank.

First, we adhere to the basic principles of promotion and instruction campaign of financial knowledge. According to the CBRC's basic campaign principles of "universality, unity, public benefit, serviceability and persistence", CDB has carried out the promotion by combination with its own features. Firstly, CDB insisted on welfare-orientation, promoted the financial knowledge through participation in publicity activities, communicated and introduced the financial policies and regulations, enhanced social responsibility, safeguarded the concept concerning the consumers' interests, and improved its financial service awareness and service quality. Secondly, CDB manifested its own features. Based on the promotional materials designed by CBRC, we communicated the CDB's featured practice in promoting the sustainable development, wellbeing areas and financial services, enhancing the public's understanding on the brand and business of CDB, and boost CDB to communicate and exchange views with other parties. Thirdly, we paid attention to the promotion effect. Focused on outlet promotion, put the publicity boards of financial knowledge at the business sites, hung posters, played videos, and took the initiative to communicate financial knowledge and financial business risks to customers when they handle with business, and create harmonious atmosphere of financial knowledge campaign.

Second, we consciously fulfill the requirements of the Party's mass line educational practice. CDB attached great importance to seriously carry out the Campaign of Financial Training Month and considered it as an important practice to implement the Party's mass line, integrated the promotion of financial knowledge into the customer service work in compliance with the service principle of the headquarter serving the branch bank and the branch bank offering services to customers, efficiently meet the development demand of customers, strived for improving the quality of financial products and service of CDB, and enhanced the comprehensive service capabilities. During the period of campaign, according to the principle of combining the public welfare, universality and serviceability, we strived for integrating the specified actions with featured themed activities, and combined the popularization of financial knowledge and improvement of CDB products and services, linked the centralized popularization and education to the establishment of long-term mechanism, actively propelled the synchronization of promotion and instruction, and improved service, and made efforts to improve the initiative, pertinence and effectiveness of campaign.

Third, we conducted featured missionary activities in combination with the actual condition: we jointly carried out the on-site promotional campaign of financial knowledge together with village banks controlled by CDB to enhance the county customers' awareness of the business of CDB, implemented the campaign special for student loans at their native places to communicate the knowledge of student loans and the preferable policy of student loan business. We also visited the small- and micro-sized enterprises, key customers and shanty towns and poverty counties, etc., to carry out non-profit public promotion and instruction campaigns to broaden the channel for the public to understand financial products and services of CDB and explore the establishment of normalized, systematic and institutionalized client-protection long-term mechanism. During the Campaign, all branches carried out more than 70 promotional activities, and realized the "satisfactory action as required and distinctive optional actions".

III.   Continuously improving the quality of financial services of CDB through the campaign of financial training

First, we facilitated the transformation of the achievements of the Campaign of Financial Training Month; build a long-term mechanism for promotion and instruction of financial knowledge. CDB will strengthen the summary on experience from the Campaign of Financial Training Month, facilitated the promotion of advanced experiences and achievements transformation, propelled the integration between promotion of financial knowledge and service capabilities, and established a long-term mechanism for promotion and instruction of financial knowledge. Grasped the opportunity of campaign for promotion and instruction of financial knowledge to normalize and standardize the work to promote and popularize the financial knowledge. To be exact, it can enhance the counter service management, take the business outlets and portals as the main platforms for promotion, and make full use of networks, newspapers, outlets and LED electronic screen to disseminate the financial knowledge to the public to increase the efforts for protecting the interests of consumers and effectively enhance the CDB's service level and service quality by planning and organizing financial knowledge themed campaign.

Second, we further strengthened the duties and responsibilities for protecting the rights and interests of consumers and improved the relevant working mechanism. Made in-depth study and implemented the Guidelines on Protection of Banking Consumer Rights and Interests recently promulgated by CBRC, earnestly fulfilled the main responsibility for protection of consumers' rights and interests, established a clear management structure for protection of consumers' rights and interests, improved CDB's control and management mechanism for protection of consumers' rights and interests, improved CDB's protection system of consumers' rights and interests and evaluation system, effectively implemented the relevant regulatory requirements in various business sectors of the design and development of products and services, pricing management, protocol development, approval access, marketing and promotion, and sales management, and incorporated the protection of financial consumer rights and interests into corporate governance and corporate culture establishment.

Third, we vigorously promoted the establishment of corporate culture concerning the protection of consumers' rights and interests. By incorporating the protection of consumers' rights and interests in the development planning throughout the Bank, we regarded it as the important contents of strengthening internal controls and corporate culture construction. Strengthened the instruction and training on staffs for the protection of consumers' rights and interests, and advanced the standardization, specialization and systematization of promotion and popularization of financial knowledge and customer complaint handling, to ensure that the requirements on the protection of consumers' rights and interests are implemented. Firmly established the business philosophy of "people-oriented" and "consumer first", and properly maintained the relationship between the business operation and protection of consumers' rights and interests, enterprise development and social responsibility. Adhered to the lawful operation and people-oriented philosophy, fully integrated the concept and requirements of protecting the financial consumer rights and interests into all aspects of daily operation and management, and continued to standardize and improve the services to maintain a good social image.

Carrying out the intensive promotion, instruction and popularization of financial knowledge is a job in the contemporary era that can be paid off in the long run. CDB will carry on the promotion and instruction of financial knowledge with high sense of responsibility, strengthen the awareness of financial consumer for protection of rights and interests, improve the quality and skills in financial services and make new contributions to creating a healthy and harmonious financial environment.