Postal Savings Bank of China (hereinafter referred to as “PSBC” or “the Bank”) released the 2020 Corporate Social Responsibility (Environmental, Social and Governance) Report (hereinafter referred to as “the Report”) on March 29, 2021. The Report provides a comprehensive overview of the practice and achievements of PSBC throughout 2020 which includes: fighting against Covid-19 while pursuing reform and development, delivering better financial services, and facilitating the sustainable development of the economy, environment and society.

Sparing No Effort to Fight COVID-19 and Ensuring Stability on Six Key Fronts and Security in Six Key Areas

Facing the sudden outbreak of Covid-19, PSBC quickly activated the emergency mechanism to respond to pandemic, forged a strong shield against the virus, and spared no effort to help contain the spread of the virus via financial services. The Bank channeled increasing financial resources to the economy, set up “green lanes” and took various measures to reduce financing costs of enterprises and facilitate the resumption of work and production for the real economy. It earnestly aligned with major national strategies, served the building of a new development paradigm, and provided strong financial support for the economic and social recovery. According to the Report, by the end of 2020, the Bank had granted special-purpose re-lending of RMB8,944 million to 706 key enterprises for pandemic control, and loans of more than RMB100 billion to enterprises engaged in pandemic response. It allowed micro and small enterprises to defer principal and interest repayments on inclusive-finance loans exceeding RMB45 billion, and provided over 2,000 micro and small-sized enterprises with loans for COVID-19 prevention and control worth over RMB12 billion. In addition, the balance of the Bank’s corporate loans was RMB1.98 trillion, up RMB237,221 million from the prior year-end.

Maintaining Strategic Positioning to Develop Inclusive Finance

As the pioneer and promoter of inclusive finance, PSBC has always maintained its strategic positioning as a retail bank, and found a unique path toward sustainable inclusive finance. The Bank stepped up efforts in poverty alleviation, explored five models of financial services for poverty relief, stimulated the momentum of development for poverty-stricken areas and sustained poverty reduction outcomes, thus contributing to winning the critical battle against poverty. At the same time, the Bank integrated online and offline channels to develop innovative services for Sannong customers, urban and rural residents, and small and medium-sized enterprises. It also actively explored new models and ecosystems as needed by the development of inclusive finance. According to the Report, as at the end of 2020, the balance of the Bank’s agro-related loans reached RMB1.41 trillion, up RMB149,676 million from the prior year-end. The balance of loans on targeted poverty alleviation reached RMB100,521 million, up RMB18,065 million from the prior year-end. The balance of personal consumer loans reached RMB2.36 trillion, up RMB345,601 million from the prior year-end. The balance of inclusive loans granted to micro and small-sized enterprises reached RMB801,247 million, up RMB148,062 million from the prior year-end.

Promoting Green Development to Guard Our Common Home

The COVID-19 pandemic has provoked profound reflection on the relationship between humanity and nature and directed more attention to global climate governance. PSBC upheld the vision of “a human community with a shared future”, actively promoted green development, vigorously developed green finance and climate financing, strengthened environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk management, and made headways towards green operation. It strove to be a bank that is green, inclusive and climate-friendly, supported China’s commitments of achieving peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality, and guarded our common home. As at the end of 2020, the balance of the Bank’s green loans stood at RMB280,936 million, up RMB65,158 million or 30.20% from the prior year-end, 9.9 percentage points higher than the banking industry average.

Embracing the Digital Revolution to Create Smart Banking

The rapidly-evolving FinTech has become a strong pillar for digitization of the banking industry. PSBC has been committed to building a technology-powered bank, sped up the building of digital scenarios and continuously improved the “finance plus service” ecosystem. The Bank joined the national e-CNY pilot program upon approval, and was the first major state-owned bank to obtain the direct banking license. It actively explored the online-offline integrated business model, and accelerated to create the smart “new retail” banking, so as to better benefit the society with financial development. As at the end of 2020, the Bank had 355 million personal e-banking users, and the personal e-banking transaction ratio reached 95.69%. Intelligent customer service had been available across all business lines, and promoted on WeChat official accounts of 36 tier-1 branches across the country, with the Q&A accuracy rate reached 95.91%, up 0.64 percentage point from the prior year-end. Intelligent customer service volume accounted for 63.59% of that of remote banking centers, with the average daily service of 586,300 person-times during the pandemic.

Pursing A People-oriented Approach to Create A Better Life Together

PSBC pursues a people-oriented approach, continues to reward its shareholders, sincerely serves the customers, cares for the growth of the employees, and actively contributes to the society. In doing so, it shares the fruits of financial development with all sectors to jointly create a better life. The Bank implemented the strategy of building a strong bank with talents, promoted human resource training and development, enhanced employee happiness with their career, and encouraged them to grow with the Bank together. Adhering to the customer-centric philosophy, the Bank carried out financial literacy campaigns and kept up with changes in customer needs to optimize customer journey, with customer experience constantly enhanced. It leveraged the platform of PSBC Love Charity Foundation to carry on the spirit of charity. According to the Report, PSBC continued to sponsor the PSBC Love Classes of Self-Commitment program in 2020 and the first 1,650 impoverished high school students funded by the program took the national college entrance examination. In its second phase, the program funded 1,900 high school students from 38 schools in the poverty-stricken areas (some were in the “Three Regions and Three Prefectures”).

Passing Down the Centenary Spirit to Strengthen CSR Management

Throughout its history, PSBC has firmly fulfilled its responsibilities and mission of supporting national economic development, improving people’s livelihood and serving social progress since its start over a century ago. Built on this century-old cultural heritage, the Bank is committed to building a first-tier modern commercial bank that is responsible, resilient and caring. In 2020, PSBC integrated CSR management into its development strategy, governance structure, corporate culture and business processes, continued to improve CSR management, and joined hands with shareholders, customers, employees and all sectors of the society to generate sustainable business value.

For the next step, PSBC will ground its efforts in the new development stage, uphold the new development philosophy, integrate into the new development pattern, and continue to serve Sannong customers, urban and rural residents and SMEs. It will spare no effort to push forward the transformation towards “uniqueness, comprehensiveness, lightness, digitalization and intensiveness”, usher in a new phase of high-quality development, make new achievements and shoulder more responsibilities in the economic, environmental and social fields.