Recently, the Citi Global Financial Institutions Summit was held in Portugal. As a premier global industry event, the summit gathered senior executives and leaders from core financial markets across the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. Xu Jie, General Manager of the Transaction Banking Department at CBHB (09668), was invited to attend and delivered a keynote speech during a high-level dialogue session. Notably, Xu Jie was the first speaker from China in the summit's history. He systematically introduced CBHB's innovative explorations and practical experiences in the field of digital trade finance to global financial peers, attracting widespread attention.
Returning to Industrial Roots: The Transformation Path of Trade Finance in the Digital Era
In his speech, Xu Jie pointed out that global digital trade is currently undergoing rapid iteration, rule reshaping, and ecosystem restructuring. Continuous technological breakthroughs, increasingly sophisticated cross-border regulations, and the evolving models of corporate overseas expansion are collectively driving structural changes in the trade finance industry. As high-quality domestic enterprises accelerate their global footprint, demands for overseas local account management, multi-currency cross-border settlement, low-cost cross-border financing, and full-link capital risk control have become increasingly prominent, placing higher requirements on financial institutions' capabilities for one-stop, customized, and full-cycle services.
In Xu Jie's view, the key to transforming trade finance in the digital era lies in moving beyond traditional financial thinking and thoroughly returning to industrial roots and customer value. "Wherever customers go, financial services should extend." Commercial banks need to break away from the old model of siloed operations, single-product offerings, and fragmented services. They must transform from being mere suppliers of financial products into strategic, full-journey partners supporting corporate globalization and digital upgrades, addressing the difficulties and pain points of cross-border operations based on real industrial scenarios.
Using aviation industry jet fuel procurement services as an example, Xu Jie vividly demonstrated CBHB's service philosophy of "journeying alongside production." Addressing industry pain points such as high procurement frequency, difficulty in capital coordination, and high comprehensive costs in the aviation supply chain, CBHB precisely customized a comprehensive financial solution. This solution scientifically optimizes corporate capital allocation, reduces operational costs, and extends services from single leading enterprises to the entire upstream and downstream aviation industry chain, achieving an upgrade from single-point service to empowering the entire ecosystem. This case directly illustrates the transaction banking transformation mindset of "evolving from doing business to journeying with industry."
Looking towards the new landscape of global digital trade development by 2030, Xu Jie proposed that rule connectivity, inclusive access, and system integration are the three core foundations. Currently, enterprises expanding overseas are no longer satisfied with fragmented financial products but prefer integrated solutions that are simple, efficient, compliant, robust, and predictable. The industry needs to undergo a deep mindset upgrade—shifting comprehensively from "finance leading industry" to "industry defining finance." By reconstructing the cross-border credit system based on the flow of comprehensive data and strengthening the underlying infrastructure for digital trade, it can facilitate global commercial connectivity and mutual prosperity.
Building Global Service Capabilities: Dual-Driven by Cross-Border Finance and Supply Chain Finance
As the youngest nationwide joint-stock commercial bank, CBHB's transaction banking business has translated the "journeying alongside production" service philosophy into systematic business practices. In recent years, closely aligning with national strategies for opening-up and digital trade development, the bank has deepened its focus on the core track of cross-border finance. Leveraging a layout described as "head office and domestic branches as the main body, with the Hong Kong Branch and Free Trade Zone branches as two wings," it has built a "four-in-one" service system encompassing onshore, NRA, FT, and Hong Kong Branch accounts, establishing efficient and smooth cross-border financial channels for enterprises.
Simultaneously, as the first direct participant bank in Tianjin's CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System), CBHB has achieved "single-point access" for RMB cross-border payments, effectively enhancing clearing efficiency and reducing transfer costs. The concurrently launched FT master-sub account model and the "Bohai Bank Free Trade Connect" service system help enterprises coordinate domestic and international markets and resources, providing global, follow-the-client financial solutions.
Addressing the pain points of corporate cross-border operations, CBHB launched the "Bohai Bank Cross-Border Connect" ten-product system, covering full scenarios of cross-border supply chain, investment and financing, settlement, and guarantees. Among these, the "Bohai Bank Global Express Remittance" and "One Account, Hundred Currencies" services support efficient settlement in over 120 currencies, enabling multi-currency clearing through a single master account with transparent, secure, and efficient capital flow. The online "Bohai Bank Hedging" service system guides enterprises to adopt a risk-neutral concept, effectively hedging exchange rate fluctuation risks.
Leveraging these capabilities, CBHB has achieved several benchmark breakthroughs: it successfully acted as the lead underwriter for a 2 billion yuan sovereign panda bond issued by the Emirate of Sharjah, marking a "zero breakthrough" for Tianjin-based financial institutions in this field; it innovated collaborative models within the Belt and Road Initiative, implementing key projects such as green ship financing, a sovereign loan for Côte d'Ivoire, and Tianjin's first cross-border e-commerce guarantee, strongly supporting the development of new foreign trade formats. In 2025, the bank's total international settlement volume exceeded one hundred billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 48%.
Concurrently, CBHB has positioned supply chain finance as a core engine for its strategic transformation. Focusing on strategic emerging industries like new energy, automotive, and electronic information, it has built the distinctive "Bohai Bank E-Chain" service brand. The bank has abandoned the extensive "casting a wide net" approach, opting instead for a path of focused sectors and deep chain cultivation. Relying on a dual-driven model of "Customer Factory + Product Factory," it has established specialized supply chain service teams at three levels: head office, branch, and sub-branch. Tailoring full-cycle, full-chain financial solutions to the specific characteristics and operational pain points of different industries, it deeply embeds professional capabilities into every link of industrial operations.
In key sectors like new energy vehicles, CBHB deeply integrates with the ecosystems of leading enterprises, providing comprehensive credit facilities and financial support covering the entire industry chain. In 2025, the bank's supply chain business disbursements exceeded 300 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of nearly 30%. Through differentiated and specialized intensive cultivation, CBHB has successively won numerous industry awards, including "Best Trade Finance Product Innovation Bank" and "Best Supply Chain Finance Innovation Bank Award."
A series of innovations in cross-border finance and supply chain finance serve as the best testament to CBHB's commitment to "adhering to the original intention of finance, deeply cultivating the real economy, empowering trade finance with digital technology, and precisely serving corporate globalization." Looking ahead, CBHB stated it will continue to promote the bidirectional empowerment of cross-border finance and supply chain finance, upgrade its digital service capabilities, and, with a more open posture, collaborate with global peers to jointly build a new digital trade ecosystem characterized by rule connectivity, inclusive access, and system integration.
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