On December 13, ICBC held the service upgrade season news conference themed "new services for customer satisfaction" in Beijing. ICBC will innovate its service pattern, enhance consumer protection and solve customers’ major concerns to comprehensively improve customer experience.

"As a large commercial bank providing full-suite financial services to 530 million personal customers, ICBC’s quality of customer service, security of customer funds, efficiency of service marketing, and customer experience are relevant to the interests of millions of households, and to the industry's position and image in the eye of consumers", said Gu Shu, President of ICBC. Therefore, upgrading service and improving provision of service are important steps for ICBC to push forward the supply-side structural reform. With the changes in external business environment, the connotation and denotation of banking services have changed. ICBC will closely focus on customer needs to provide secure and convenient basic financial services, value-added services and customized product portfolios through customers' preferred channels, meeting customers' need for account management, fund facility, payment and settlement, investment and wealth management, and creating value for customers.

Li Yunze, Vice President of ICBC, said that the four-month service upgrade initiative will improve the quality of financial services from four aspects: improving service environment, optimizing service process, accelerating fee reduction and enhancing account security. For example, to reduce customers' waiting time, ICBC has streamlined the counter process and launched cart-style counter services, where the customer only needs to fill in a voucher, input the password once and make one signature for confirmation to handle multiple businesses. On the other hand, ICBC is promoting intelligent outlets where innovative and intelligent "self-service + assisted services" are combined. Account opening, wealth management, remittance, loss reporting and many other personal businesses are available off the counter, which effectively decentralizes customers waiting at the counter. As of the end of October, ICBC has completed intelligent improvement of more than 9,600 outlets, accounting for nearly 60% of its outlets across the country. Regarding the problem that complex businesses take a long service time at the counter, ICBC has gradually introduced personal customer reservation services. Customers can make business reservation through online service channels such as Internet Banking and Mobile Banking. The Bank pre-processes the complex businesses at back office, anticipates and prepares for processing of customer businesses, and arranges for the customers to have an appropriate priority in queuing during the appointment time.

In promoting Internet financial services, ICBC has creatively launched ICBC Cloud Manager services, where the online account manager team provides customers with information, product referral, consultation and online reservation through non-face-to-face means such ICBC Link, telephone and SMS. Currently ICBC Cloud Manager is providing exclusive services to more than 900 million personal customers in China. In addition, ICBC has also launched various cost reductions and concessions through ICBC Mobile, ICBC Link and other platforms, including free domestic cross-regional transfer and inter-bank transfer, free overseas remittance within the Bank when using ICBC Mobile; free domestic transfer among ICBC Link friends; and free ICBC Messenger, electronic payroll, loan repayment schedule and other information.