Bank of Communications
Bank of Communications, the fifth-largest commercial bank in China by assets, stands out in China’s banking sector for the strong capability it has developed to serve supply chain finance clients.
Led by general manager Fu Wanjun, the bank’s strength in supply chain finance is reflected by its extensive coverage of industries and the large number of customers it has served. BoCom has made its supply-chain finance services available to businesses in more than 20 industries in China. By the end of 2016, it had signed up some 2,000 leading companies in their respective industries, as well as roughly 20,000 small and medium-sized enterprises associated with these industry leaders as clients for trade finance.
BoCom has built its competitive strength in trade finance with the support of its comprehensive services, innovative solutions and rigorous risk management.
To help its key clients in various industries and their suppliers to finance their business activities, the bank has to-date offered 23 supply-chain finance products, including loans backed up by inventories and delivery orders, account receivables financing, commercial bill discounting and factoring.
And to speed up the financing process, BoCom has developed its own innovative electronic supply-chain finance system to conduct receivables financing, commercial bill discounting and factoring online for its clients.
The bank’s online trade-financing services are well received by Chinese companies as well as their suppliers and distributors in the logistics, petrochemicals, home appliances, automobiles and construction industries.
In the first quarter of 2017, BoCom lent more than Rmb10 billion ($1.5 billion) via online commercial bill discounting alone to its supply chain finance clients.
Risk management is essential to the healthy development of a bank’s supply chain finance business as the majority of the companies on the supply chain of industries are SMEs. BoCom’s risk management team now uses big data analysis to monitor potential risks facing its trade finance services. In addition, it has engaged insurance providers and loan guarantors to further mitigate the risks.