Bank of Communications - CSR report

In most conversations in the West regarding CSR, the same question is frequently asked: Is it really to do good actions, or simply to increase profits by pleasing ‘us’? In the end, the reason doesn’t really matter as there is nothing wrong in increasing profit, by for example, saving the environment.

In China, CSR doesn’t have that ambiguity. Bank of Communications’ (BOCOM) CSR report is fantastic for one reason; it sticks with its mission statement. Two quotes that stand out are: “First class public sharing bank” and “Best wealth management bank in China”. There is no notion of profit, higher dividends, attractive investment, etc...

The CSR report nicely follows the mission statement with 6 headings: Shanghai Expo 2010, Community Contributions, Education, Philanthropy & Charity, Environmental Protection and Culture.

The community section stands out with “Supporting national strategic projects” as one its socially responsible task. The sense of community in this instance is very aligned with the People’s Republic of China reform. It follows the logic of: by offering loans to national projects, BOCOM is directly benefiting the community.

This highlights the crucial importance of cultural differences. In the previous blog post, Investor Relation – China, this community responsibility comes out as a limitation. From an investor’s point of view, this created doubts of credibility.

George Bush’s ambition to imprint capitalism in China now seems foolish and perhaps embarrassing. It is strongly argued that the power is soon shifting away from the U.S. towards China. Therefore limitations such as above would have to be accepted and respected from the West.