Third import expo well served by banking, insurance industries

China will persist in opening to the world on a larger scale, in wider areas and at a deeper level through more win-win cooperation, according to a communique released at the conclusion of the recent 19th Communist Party of China Central Committee’s fifth plenary session. 

This week, the third China International Import Expo is being held on schedule in Shanghai, confirming once again the country's strong determination to further open up.

As a highlight of the third CIIE, the exhibition for trade in services has a planned area of 30,000 square meters and will feature more than 250 businesses in fields of finance, logistics, consulting, inspection and testing, as well as culture and tourism.

More than 50 of them are on the list of Fortune 500 companies.

For the first time, non-bank financial institutions are included in the finance section, with the size of the entire financial sector double that of last year, according to the event organizer.

Professional service providers such as insurers, securities brokers, credit agencies and supply chain financing companies are showcasing their expertise in protection, investment, consulting and financing.

Chinese banks and insurers as well as their foreign counterparts are seizing the huge business opportunities brought about by the event and are introducing diversified financial services and products.

As a core supporting company, and a designated insurance service provider of the CIIE, China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co tailors one-stop insurance products and services to the exhibitors, builders, logistics suppliers and e-commerce service platforms.

This year, CPIC has established a project team led by its headquarters and integrates its strength in property insurance, life insurance, health insurance, pension investment and other sectors, offering a set of risk management solutions worth 884.8 billion yuan (US$131.6 billion) for the expo.

At the same time, it is creating version 3.0 of its CIIE exclusive services and transforming from sole focus on insurance services to all-round cooperation support by upgrading its service team, risk-control capabilities and claim settlement.

Relying on the group’s abundant resources, the insurance giant is making every effort to safeguard the smooth progress of the CIIE.

In 2019, CPIC provided comprehensive insurance coverage and integrated risk management services for the second CIIE by giving full play to its advantage of all-round insurance license, with a total coverage of more than 500 billion yuan.

Insured exhibitors and builders can enjoy protection from natural disasters and accidents during freight transportation. If their construction and installation works suffer material loss and third-party liability during construction, they will also get paid.

For exhibition personnel, CPIC extends its liability for death and disability caused by COVID-19 in the venue.

For the third CIIE, CPIC has established a housekeeping-style insurance service team, providing consultation, complaints, return visits, insurance, claims and other all-round, multilingual and personalized services for exhibitors.

Professionals of different business lines are stationed in the expo to offer dedicated services on site.

It also provides on-site medical rescue, road vehicle rescue, vehicle safety monitoring, SOS domestic and overseas VIP medical rescue services and other additional services as well.

Sun Haiyang, general manager of the non-auto insurance business of China Pacific Property Insurance Co, a subsidiary of China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co, said in the process of serving the CIIE, they are accumulating new experiences, developing new products and building new service platforms.

To cater to the demand of cloud-based online exhibition activities, the Shanghai-based underwriter developed the country’s first “online activities transmission insurance” to protect economic losses caused by the cancellation and interruption of online activities due to data transmission failure.

It also provides network security liability insurance with a limit of 300 million yuan to insure business interruption losses and related expenses caused by network security accidents.

China Pacific Property Insurance is also exploring more business opportunities. Last year, it conducted more than 50 negotiations or signed contracts with over 30 trading delegations and exhibitors, Sun added.

China Life has recently become the first insurance company to carry out the pilot of the free trade accounting business by passing through the assessment of relevant risk organized by the Shanghai headquarters of the People's Bank of China, and has taken the lead in accessing the Shanghai free trade accounting unit.

This marks a historic breakthrough in the financial reform and innovation of the insurance industry in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, laying the foundation for the next step of developing insurance products that meet cross-border needs.

The entry of insurers into the free trade account system is an important measure to promote the 40 new policies on further pursuing financial innovation in the Shanghai free trade zone announced in 2015.

It is also an important attempt to push ahead financial reform and innovation in the expanded area of the free trade zone proposed during the first expo.

Banking hopes on banks

Banks are also presenting their exclusive offerings at the third CIIE.

Bank of China, one of China’s big four state-owned banks, is providing a comprehensive and intelligent service pack that is underpinned by its strong technology.

Exhibitors and buyers are enjoying superb banking services that include financing, payments, foreign exchange and guarantees during the six-day event.

As one of the organizers of the trade and investment matchmaking meeting of the event, the bank prepared a video-based docking area for domestic customers who can't be present to negotiate with the participating enterprises due to epidemic prevention and control.

It also sets aside an investment promotion area to provide investment roadshows for industrial parks and other institutions, so as to further expand the spillover effect of the expo.

For the past two years, it has provided "one-on-one" negotiation services to more than 2,500 exhibitors and over 4,500 buyers from more than 100 countries and regions, and facilitated more than 3,400 transaction intentions.

In order to facilitate guests from both home and abroad to purchase their favorite intangible cultural heritage goods, BOC, as the exclusive partner of humanities exchange in the third CIIE, tailors a set of payment solutions by integrating mainstream payment methods, including Alipay, WeChat Pay, UnionPay QR code and foreign card swiping payment.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country’s largest commercial lender, has launched a “five-in-one” financial product system for the fair.

Domestic buyers can open a bank account via WeChat, while overseas exhibitors can also enjoy one-stop account service by electronic and remote means.

Its "Quick Remittance" solution is bringing more flexible, convenient and lower-cost, cross-border remittance service for individual and enterprise customers.

Focusing on the actual financing needs of enterprises, ICBC offers an all-round, full-cycle funding product to help domestic clients improve their capital turnover efficiency and reduce operating costs.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank has innovated a digital cross-border payment and settlement service to better serve exhibitors participating in the third CIIE.

The program covers a total of 20 service initiatives and hundreds of financial products customized for buyers and exhibitors, including services such as cross-border payment and settlement, trade financing, global treasury management and cross-border investment.

The joint-stock bank also customizes two supply chain financial services for this year's event. For the newly added public health and epidemic prevention area, it provides special financial services for various medical platforms and pharmaceutical companies.

To facilitate cross-border logistics turnover, SPDB has rolled out ecological financing support for relevant customers served by warehousing enterprises in Yangshan Special Comprehensive Bonded Zone.

During the expo, Standard Chartered Bank (China) is ready to unveil an upgraded one-stop intelligent payment solution with SUNRATE, a digital cross-border payment platform to help small and medium-sized importers rise to challenges such as increased capital pressure and growing foreign exchange risk in the post-pandemic era.

Enterprises can complete the whole process operations including data submission and transaction online, and can make real-time queries of bill details as well as exchange rate quotation of more than 130 currencies with the help of this new solution.

HSBC Group is presenting its all-round financial services, including banking, life insurance, brokerage and financial technology provided by its global network in 64 countries and regions and is highlighting its strategic business layout and product design to support the trade and investment links between China and the world, said Mark Wang, China president and CEO of the banking giant.

It is also exploring trade opportunities under the country’s new development pattern of "double circulation" and sharing how it is meeting customer needs through multi-faceted intelligent financial products and services with the digital technology empowerment.

A tailor-made report for the third CIIE will be released during the event, which surveyed important decision makers from businesses in key global markets and explored their current perspective and future ambitions in relation to trading with China.