Seven years of strong support for CIIE by financial heavyweight

A huge Bank of China poster decorates the entrance of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the venue for the China International Import Expo. (Photo/China Daily)

As the seventh China International Import Expo opens in Shanghai on Tuesday, Bank of China, which has been cooperating with the CIIE as its strategic partner for seven consecutive years, is once again primed to leverage its globalized service network and cross-border financial expertise to provide crucial support for the annual event.

The major Chinese financial group is flexing its fintech muscle at the ongoing CIIE, where transnational renminbi business and cross-border payment are prioritized in BOC's on-site promotions. It has invited other financial institutions from home and abroad to take part, in a bid to boost RMB internationalization.

In cooperation with other exhibitors, including Tencent and the Academy of Engineering and Technology at Fudan University, BOC is demonstrating its future financial service scenarios at an exhibition zone dedicated to intelligent applications of new quality productive forces during the CIIE.

The bank has been advancing its financial cooperation ecosystem, which involves governmental departments, sci-tech businesses, investment firms, higher education institutions and others.

Digital RMB service is another focus of BOC's promotions at the event. The group has announced it is to expand application scenarios of digital RMB payment at this year's CIIE, after it was demonstrated at the event over the past three years.

Revolving around green finance, BOC has launched a series of activities on-site and online to advocate a low-carbon lifestyle.

These include a cycling experience program backed by virtual reality technology at a BOC service outlet on the CIIE Central Square, inviting expo visitors to participate in exchange for expo souvenirs.

Moving online, BOC is capitalizing on its mobile banking platform to set up a green CIIE-dedicated section where it collaborates with other organizations including a public transport card issuer, a bike-sharing service provider and an electric vehicle charging pile management company, to promote low-carbon concepts and practices and contribute to burnishing Shanghai's green and low-carbon image.

On the travel front, the bank's solutions for taxi services comprehensively support payments via mainstream international credit cards such as VISA, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Diners Club, Discover, and UnionPay international cards. They can also support UnionPay QR codes, digital RMB, WeChat Pay and Alipay payments.

As the first in the industry, BOC provides acquiring services for foreign cards on transportation company apps, enabling foreign nationals to use their bank or credit cards for the online top-up of public transport cards.

Within and beyond venue

BOC has set up multiple foreign currency exchange points and plans to hand out digital currency hard wallets integrating transport card functions across the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the CIIE venue, to assist currency exchanges for foreigners.

Far beyond the exhibition venue, the banking group offers international participants one-stop financial services.

It has also joined hands with overseas institutions as well as cross-border branches within Shanghai to offer foreign currency exchange, convenient payments and account services.

To enhance the participation experience of foreign visitors, BOC services enable overseas visitors to pay for individuals' CIIE registration fees on the official website of the NECC, using foreign cards.

The goal is to deploy more than 10,000 terminals citywide that accept foreign cards and enable 4,000 BOC-signed merchant stores across Shanghai to accept foreign card payments.

In addition to financial support, BOC is a participant in other CIIE events. It has attended six previous editions of the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, hosting subforums on topics such as RMB internationalization; free trade zone development; inclusive finance; financial digitalization; financial cooperation and openness for regional economic integration; financial support for stability in industry and supply chains; and promoting free trade zone upgrades through financial reform and innovation.

Under the guidance of the Ministry of Commerce, BOC, a diamond member of the forum, serves as the organizer for the subforum on digital finance boosting global economic and trade development on Tuesday, which echoes the theme of this year's Hongqiao Forum — high-standard opening-up for universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

The BOC booth at the seventh CIIE. (Photo/China Daily)

Steadfast backing

The Trade and Investment Matchmaking Conference is a major supportive event during the CIIE. BOC has exclusively hosted the event for six consecutive sessions, providing business matchmaking services for more than 22,000 domestic enterprises and more than 6,400 overseas exhibitors from 100-plus countries and regions.

In total, more than 10,000 rounds of online and offline negotiations have been conducted, resulting in more than 5,000 cooperation intentions with their combined intended amount exceeding $40 billion.

BOC has promoted the CIIE over the past seven years, extending support by organizing nearly 120 promotional events to attract exhibitors in nearly 80 overseas countries and regions.

With the support of the Ministry of Commerce and the CIIE Bureau, BOC has assisted with more than 30 overseas promotions for the CIIE this year, including debuts in countries such as Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Norway.

BOC has supported more than 100 roadshow promotions and seven series promoting the expo in local regions across China over the past seven years.

Additionally, BOC Shanghai Branch has collaborated with other domestic institutions to support roadshows in 13 locations such as Wuhan, Hubei province; Taian, Shandong province; and Harbin, Heilongjiang province.

The branch has also exclusively supported large-scale promotion activities to attract exhibitors from Chongqing and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and facilitated two large-scale pre-expo supply and demand matchmaking events covering consumer goods, trade in services, technology equipment, and automotive sectors.