Case study: How ICBC identifies and works on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts

Stakeholder identification and consultation

Please describe which stakeholders (or groups/ types of stakeholders) you have identified, consulted, engaged, collaborated or partnered with for the purpose of implementing the Principles and improving your bank’s impacts. This should include a high-level overview of how your bank has identified relevant stakeholders, what issues were addressed/results achieved and how they fed into the action planning process.

ICBC’s Basic Rules for Corporate Social Responsibility (ESG and Sustainable Finance) define social responsibility as the Group’s commitment to promoting high-quality development. This includes maintaining a steadfast dedication to a civilized development path that supports advanced production methods, prosperous living standards, and a healthy ecological environment. The bank aims to provide effective financial support and services to foster the sustainable development of the Chinese nation and to ensure the sharing of benefits with shareholders, customers, employees, society, and other stakeholders.

ICBC places significant emphasis on stakeholder communication. By establishing mechanisms for both immediate and regular dialogue, as well as coordinating communication on specific topics and engaging in international exchanges, the bank ensures continuous and meaningful interactions with key stakeholders. It actively encourages participation from relevant parties by leveraging new media platforms. To protect the rights and interests of investors and other stakeholders—particularly minority shareholders— ICBC strictly complies with domestic and international regulations regarding information disclosure. During the reporting period, the bank continuously enhanced its proactive information disclosure system within its periodic reporting framework and actively addressed investor concerns through its voluntary disclosure channels, making its information sharing more proactive and effective.

ICBC actively promotes the green, low-carbon, and sustainable development of its suppliers. Its centralized procurement process strictly complies with national regulations and upholds the principles of openness, fairness, justice, and integrity. The Administrative Measures for Centralized Procurement Suppliers have been revised to better specify management requirements for addressing significant risks and illegal activities related to environmental protection, social responsibility, and corporate governance among suppliers.

ICBC values its people, cares for its employees, and continuously improves its employee incentive mechanisms and training systems. It leverages the role of the employee representative assembly, emphasizes the protection of employees’ legitimate rights and interests, and promotes equality in employment and career development opportunities for female employees.

ICBC actively promoted consumer protection education and awareness. In 2024, it designated the year as the “Year of Consumer Protection Education Promotion Deepening” nationwide and launched a themed campaign titled “Deepening Consumer Protection Education Promotion.” During the reporting period, the bank organized over 202,600 financial education activities, reaching more than 1.856 billion individuals.

Additionally, 15,000 bank outlets established “ICBC Sharing Stations.” Utilizing the “ICBC Sharing Station” service platform, the bank enhanced collaboration with volunteer service organizations, offering volunteer services, assistance, and other public welfare initiatives to the community, thereby creating a “warm home” of volunteering, care, and support.

Furthermore, ICBC harnessed the Group’s social donation functions to assist the poor and vulnerable populations. It encouraged and guided employees to participate in volunteer activities, expanded community service channels, and supported social charity efforts.

How did ICBC identify and work on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts?

In its 2024 Sustainability Report ICBC reports that it identified and worked on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts as follows:

Aligned with national strategic priorities, ICBC intensified its financial support for emerging high-quality productive forces. It continued to deepen, implement, and refine the “Five Priorities,” while innovating across sectors such as green finance, inclusive finance, technology finance, pension finance, and digital finance. By providing higher-quality financial services, ICBC advanced sustainable economic and social development and fulfilled its role and responsibilities as a major state-owned bank.

ICBC established a comprehensive green finance system that integrates strategic planning, policy guidance, product innovation, and research collaboration to promote the comprehensive green and low-carbon transformation of the economy and society. Building on its extensive experience, the bank further promoted its green finance brand, “ICBC Green Bank+.” It continuously enhanced its green credit management system, refined guidance for industry credit policies, and incorporated green development indicators as key criteria. ICBC also developed binding environmental credit policies and integrated environmental, social, and climate-related risks into the entire credit management process. As of the end of the reporting period, the balance of green loans under the NFRA criteria surpassed RMB 6 trillion.

ICBC’s inclusive lending continued to grow, further strengthening its support for financing needs. As of the end of the reporting period, the total balance of the bank’s inclusive small and micro enterprise loans reached RMB 2.89 trillion, reflecting an increase of RMB 665.563 billion or 29.9% compared to the beginning of the year. ICBC served 2,083,400 inclusive loan customers, an increase of 616,600 or over 40% from the start of the year. The bank’s inclusive financial services received recognition through 15 significant awards, including the “2024 Cases of Innovative Practices in Building a Financial Powerhouse” awarded by people.cn. Additionally, it was rated as “Class A” in the 2023 Regulatory Evaluation of Financial Services for Small and Micro Enterprises by the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

ICBC prioritized the development of technology finance by accelerating the refinement and enhancement of the “five specialized” service system for technology finance. It provided high-quality financial services to technology enterprises, supporting their pursuit of advanced technological self-reliance and innovation. As of the end of the reporting period, the total loans to strategic emerging industries surpassed RMB 3.1 trillion.

To align with national strategies, improve public well-being, and support the silver economy, ICBC developed the Action Plan for Promoting Pension Finance Development. This plan introduced the “1134 Project” framework for pension finance and outlined over 50 measures to foster the growth of pension finance.

ICBC actively implemented the national strategy to strengthen China’s cyberspace capabilities and build a digital China. It fully supported the development of the digital economy by enhancing comprehensive financial support for key areas such as new digital infrastructure construction, innovation and addressing vulnerabilities in digital technology, promoting the healthy growth of the platform economy, and advancing industry digital transformation. The bank also facilitated major project development and the innovative growth of key enterprises. Additionally, it thoroughly advanced the development of D-ICBC, leveraging “data and technology” to empower business operations, accelerating the cultivation of new high-quality productive forces, and strengthening digital driving forces to promote high-quality growth.

UN Principles for Responsible Banking: Accelerating a positive global transition for people and the planet

With over 300 signatory banks representing almost half of the global banking industry, the Principles for Responsible Banking are the world’s foremost sustainable banking framework. Through these Principles, the banking community takes action to align core strategies, decision-making, lending and investment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and international agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement.

FBRH Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) Assurance:

First class PRB assurance services: The result of solid, hands-on ESG/ Sustainability experience

• • • FBRH is a GRI Certified Training Partner (Global), ISEP Training Centre and a member of CPD.
    • FBRH builds trust. Over 200 reviews from top professionals from around the world demonstrate our ability to build strong, trusting business relationships.
    • FBRH possesses a unique skill set that combines ESG/sustainability certified training, experience in advisory services and report preparation, and ESG/sustainability report assurance.

The combination of all the above empowers FBRH to provide first class Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) assurance services.

References:

This case study is based on published information by ICBC, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://v.icbc.com.cn/userfiles/resources/icbcltd/download/2025/esg2024en.pdf

Note to ICBC: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.