OREANDA-NEWS.  July 17, 2014. At the release conference & awards ceremony for the Social Responsibility Report on the Chinese Banking Industry for 2013 sponsored by the China Banking Association, BOC won the "Financial Institution with the Strongest Sense of Social Responsibility" award and "Best Social Responsibility Finance Award for People's Livelihood"; and Fangzhuang Central Sub-branch of Beijing Branch won the "Special Contribution Outlet Award for Social Responsibility".

BOC has long adhered to the philosophy of "Serving Society, Delivering Excellence", and actively performed its corporate social responsibility. It has fully supported nationwide earthquake relief efforts, and provided assistance to the quake-stricken areas in Ya'an and Yunnan, and the snowstorm-hit area in Inner Mongolia, in the form of charity donation, credit support, and donation of supplies. The Bank has conducted poverty alleviation to Yongshou, Changwu, Chunhua and Xunyi counties in Xianyang, Shaanxi province for 13 straight years, launched over 100 poverty alleviation projects including migrants relocation, repair & construction of primary and middle school buildings, and drinking water programs for people and livestock, and donated funds of over RMB50 million in total.

It has sponsored the "Mother's Health Express" public welfare program initiated by China Women's Development Foundation, and donated 48 medical vehicles to poverty-stricken areas in Shandong, Anhui, Hubei and Shaanxi to help improve the living conditions of women in these regions. Furthermore, in support of the "Rainbow Bridge" public welfare program initiated by China Next Generation Education Foundation, the Bank funded the short-term cultural exchanges and studies of 156 students with outstanding academic performance and good qualities from poor families in China and the United States. It also bankrolled the "Caijing Magazine Scholarship Program" for four consecutive years, and helped over 40 young finance and economics journalists with their personal development. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and France, the Bank supported the exhibition of the collections of the Louvre in China as its "chief partner", and promoted bilateral cultural exchanges. In addition, it exclusively funded the "Protection and Development Program for China's Traditional Villages", a joint initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, to salvage and preserve traditional villages across the country.

In the meantime, BOC is devoted to enhancing its product and service quality in the financial sector related to people's livelihood. It has actively promoted the construction of a "for-people's-benefits financial service system", and launched the special service brand - "for-people's-benefits finance" which covers social security, medicare, education, assistance to farmers, payment, IC card consumption and other aspects closely related to the daily life of the masses, in an effort to build a more convenient and efficient for-people's-livelihood financial services system. Moreover, the Bank has proactively undertaken government-subsidized housing projects such as public rental housing and low-rent housing to meet the housing needs of middle- and low-income groups. By fully leveraging its business advantages, and centering on the industry chain of agriculture, BOC has also launched a series of characteristic financial products including "credit facility for dairy producers" and "special loans for farmers" to continuously enhance its financial service capability for "agriculture, rural areas and farmers". By consistently improving its "BOC credit factory" financial service model for SMEs, and stepping up efforts on product research and development, BOC has rolled out the "Zhongguancun Model", "Zhangjiang Model" and "Binhai Model", and constantly reinforced its credit support to technology-oriented SME customers.

Fangzhuang Central Sub-branch, Beijing Branch of BOC, is located in the central area of South Third Ring of the city. The place is a major transportation hub and a famous garment trade distribution center with a large population and traffic, where businesses gather and various telecom frauds occur frequently. In face of such a grim situation, Fangzhuang Central Sub-branch fully exerts the role of its counters as the "last security shield" and summarizes the features of and countermeasures against various telecom frauds, and has successfully averted a number of such frauds on the disadvantaged, and effectively protected the interest of customers.
China Banking Association has released the Social Responsibility Report on the Chinese Banking Industry for 6 straight years, and awards the financial institutions that have made extraordinary contributions to the cause of social responsibility in the industry.