Spdb's Responsible Profiting

1. Introduction

Since the "our profit is too embarrassingly high to disclose" statement by some half-witted bank executive, commercial banks in China are under intensive public scrutiny for undertaking a just business. The masses want something/somebody to blame for the gloomy economy, and the press simply want blood. I have served in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB) as a corporate banking specialist for 5 years, thus my genuine acknowledgement of some complaints voiced by the public. Still, however inadequate my knowledge on the banking matter is, I must point out the fact that commercial banks, especially public-listed ones, are mainly responsible to their shareholders and profit-maximization is their prime goal. Commercial banks are not charities, and companies should be rather proud when its profit is "embarrassingly high".

Nevertheless, modern society grants commercial banks and other corporations alike personae, banks are expected to behave with a conscience as well. Profiting does, rather than diminish welfare of others, promote collective well-being. In the following sections, I will further illustrate how SPDB, the company I serve in, profits economically through promoting the welfare of the society. All data cited can be found in disclosed materials on SPDB's website.

2. Inclusive Finance

The financial mechanism of our country has gone through dramatic changes and innovations to pay more attention and allocate more resources on the underdeveloped and the underprivileged. SPDB, as one of the major banks in China, introduces its inclusive finance policy in order to ensure every enterprise and individual would have equal opportunities to partake in the rapid economic development of our nation. In the past few years, small and medium enterprise (SME) finance, agro-finance and mobile finance have been the spear tips of this banking giant's inclusive financial services.

2.1 SME Finance

SMEs are a major force that drives our country's economy forward and produce hundreds of millions of jobs. SPDB, as a beneficiary of China's booming economy for the last two decades, works closely with SMEs to provide them with efficient and comprehensive financial services.

In the past two years, business connected with SMEs has been developed rapidly. All 31 branches of SPDB set up SME Operation Centers to match the increasingly high workload of SME financial services. In 2010, the outstanding exposure of SME credit amounted to 5653.82 billion Yuan, which was enjoyed a 29.49% increase from 2009, and served 27697 SME corporate clients. Asset quality of SME sector improved while non-performing loan (NPL) balance and ratio decreased 5.39 billion Yuan and 0.53% respectively

In order to obtain the above-mentioned achievement, different financial services have been integrated