Chen Yuan
Chairman of Board of Directors |
In retrospect, the global financial crisis has given people much food for thought, especially the
definition of a world-leading bank. As I understand, such a bank must, first of all, be healthy,
maintain quality assets and investors¡¯ trust. Secondly, it must have an objective, fair and
in-depth understanding of social issues, make unremitting efforts to tackle social problems and
be publicly accepted. I was gratified that in 2009 we had taken new strides along the road to
this target, and made solid practice with Chinese characteristics.
¡°As Heaven maintains vigor through movement, a gentleman should constantly strive for
self-perfection.¡± This national spirit of ceaseless self-improvement has helped us over the years
foster the ambition to well run a Chinese state-owned bank, pushed us to catch up with the
world-leading players in the Wall Street and the City of London and inspired us to play an
ever-increasing role in socio-economic development. In 2009, in the face of the dual chal-
lenges of the international financial crisis and CDB¡¯s commercialization reform, we stuck to the
development financing approach, consolidated our advantages in medium- and long-term
investment and financing, overcame difficulties, thoroughly applied the country¡¯s macro-control
policies, made concrete efforts to push ahead with CDB¡¯s commercialization reform, and
reciprocated the trust and confidence in the market with good performance.
¡°Wind, rain and reading sound are all heard while home, state and global affairs are all
attended.¡± This couplet made in old days has been viewed as a vivid reflection of the holistic
outlook and sense of responsibility of ancient Chinese intellectuals. Revisiting the famous
couplet is worthwhile for executives of financial institutions and bankers in modern China. We
have always maintained that, as an important component of the economy and society, finance
must serve the development of the real economy and take concerted actions with the society.
In 2009, we made new efforts in core business areas including infrastructure construction,
international cooperation, grass-roots finance and green finance. It is our hope that social
justice, economic fairness and ecological equilibrium would consist a bigger leverage in our
future financial services.
¡°Justice before profits and justice above profits.¡±This moral standard proposed by ancient
philosopher Xunzi made it clear that those who put morality ahead of profits shall prosper and
that those who put profits ahead of morality shall be put to shame. Businesses should not think
only short-term commercial interests; instead, they should conscientiously take into account
long-term social impacts of their activities and strike a balance between profits and morality. The
experience of CDB¡¯s reform and development, including the major developments achieved in
2009, has given us a reason to believe that responsibility creates value. Social responsibilities do
not simply mean costs or constraints; they will also create commercial value for enterprises, such
as new markets, products and customers, translate risks into opportunities and generate long-term
financial returns.
¡°Draw widely upon others¡¯ strong points for self-improvement.¡± A sound and effective responsibility
mechanism must involve the collaboration of all relevant parties including government, business,
markets and the general public. We have advanced the business philosophy of ¡°financial
socialization¡±, enthusiastically conducted cooperation with various quarters of society and
mobilized our stakeholders to get involved in, and pay attention to lending activities in an effort to
realize the goal of ¡°public participation, public supervision and benefiting the public¡±. At the
same time, we have extensively participated in the discussions and resolution of global issues,
supported the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact, and contributed our wisdom
and resources to issues like responsible investment and the combats against corruption and
climate change.
In the post-financial crisis era, we will continue to stick to the philosophy of ¡°balanced develop-
ment and social harmony¡± and the mission of ¡°strengthening the nation¡¯s overall strengths and
improving the people¡¯s livelihood¡±, attentively listen to the aspirations and requests of stakeholders,
accelerate the efforts to build this bank into a first-rate international bank, and make our contribu-
tions towards a sustained future of the Mankind.
 CHEN YUAN |
