OREANDA-NEWS. April 12, 2013. In 2012, Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC) continued to promote the transformation of retail banking operations, making efforts to become a first-class retail bank in China. It made great achievements in outlet construction, service quality, customer management, etc. As at the end of 2012, ABC had 409 million personal customers, ranking first among large commercial banks.

It cumulatively issued 550 million debit cards, up by 88 million from the previous year-end and 21,898,400 financial IC debit cards. ABC issued 36.98 million credit cards, with 5.84 million special merchants. It recorded a credit card consumption volume of RMB630.67 million, increasing by 33.8% compared with the previous year.

Great achievement in outlet transformation

In 2012, ABC further speeded up the infrastructure construction of its outlets. It adjusted and optimized its outlet layout, formulated the five-year plan for future development of all outlets. It also completed outlet planning for “46112" key urban branches, 241 secondary urban branches and 110 key county-level sub-branches, effectively promoting the customer experience and satisfaction. ABC accelerated the standardized outlet construction, and launched the standards for outlet image building (2012 version). It set up 35 new outlets with 3,019 construction works being started.

It strengthened the basic management of operating outlets, conducted a classified and layered evaluation on all 23,000 outlets, and promoted the all-round application of information management system in its outlets. ABC also intensified investment in self-service facilities. It incremented 11,500 ATMs in 2012 with the total number reaching 76,200, 242,500 mPay machines with the total number of 3,182,500, and 9,500 self-service terminals with the total number amounting to 34,300.

Service quality was greatly promoted
In 2012, ABC carried out the “Year of Service Quality Promotion” activity in an in-depth way. It cumulatively introduced the marketing skills promotion activities into 21,713 outlets, with an introduction rate of 94.6%, covering all accessible outlets under all key urban branches. It vigorously promoted consultation for outlet transformation, continuously strengthened the monitoring on service quality of outlets and enhanced trainings for retail banking personnel. ABC also carried out the “2111” project for customer data information governance and launched and promoted a new personal customer relation maintenance system. It reinforced the construction of VIP customer marketing and service platform, making its value-added services more inclusive. It enhanced the joint marketing of retail banking products and the cooperative marketing between corporate and personal banking departments, effectively gained new customers and constantly improved capacities of customer identification and value exploration. In addition, ABC actively carried out product innovation, accelerated promotion and application of financial products and continuously cultivated core competitiveness in personal deposits, personal loans, bank card services and private banking businesses.

Improved the delicacy of customer management

In 2012, ABC exerted itself to improve the delicacy customer management. In accordance with the value contribution of customers, ABC studied and implemented differentiated product and service plans. It improved the stratified “four-in-one” service system for VIP customers, pushed forward the establishment of 50 wealth management centers, and set up 300 branded wealth management studios named after personal names. Besides, it diversified the contents of value-added services, increased cooperation with health service and insurance companies in an orderly way, and organized health lectures and expert diagnosis widely. It also actively expanded the customized value-added service system such as art finance, high-end business travel and diamond customization. ABC improved cross-border financial services for private banking customers, dedicated credit services, legal and tax consulting services and comprehensive financial services for shareholders of listed companies. By the end of 2012, ABC had established private banking department in 19 branches, which owned 35,000 private banking customers and managed assets of 396 billion.

In 2013, ABC will further highlight the strategic position of retail banking businesses, launch the “second transformation” for retail businesses, and promote the transformation from urban to rural areas. It will implement innovative development and differentiated operation strategies. It will make the utmost of the advantages of outlet network to improve its customer service capability, comprehensive marketing and value-generating capabilities, striving to become a first-class retail bank in China.