“Nothing is more constant than change” – true to this motto a Chinese delegation of the Shandong City Commercial Bank Alliance (SCCBA) visited various institutions of the German Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (Savings Banks Finance Group) at the start of November with the aim to exchange views with their German colleagues and get new ideas and incentives for SCCBA’s further development.
The guests from Far East benefited from the lectures and discussions with the experts from the German Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (Savings Banks Finance Group): During a visit to the Sparkassen- und Giroverband Hessen-Thüringen (Savings Banks Association of Hesse-Thuringia) they obtained deep insights into such issues like risk management and rating systems. With the colleagues from the Landesbank Helaba they exchanged views about payments systems, while the visit to the Sparkassen-Finanz-IT focused on information security management.
At the end of each visit, it was vividly discussed how the newly gained insights and knowledge can be adjusted and applied to the Chinese association and its member institutions. The delegation’s Germany trip was rounded off with meetings at the Stadtsparkasse München (Municipal Savings Bank of Munich) and the Sparkassenakademie Bayern (Savings Banks Association of Bavaria), contributing to the better understanding of the work of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (Savings Banks Finance Group) as a whole.
Support beyond project end: Sparkassenstiftung and SCCBA
From 2006 through to 2010, the Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation (Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation) worked together with the Rheinischer Sparkassen- und Giroverband (Rhineland Savings Banks Association – RSGV) in a mutual project targeting the setup and institutional development of the SSCBA. Since that time, the SCCBA has been supporting currently 15 City Commercial Banks in Shandong, for instance through an efficient networking of institutions or the setup of joint facilities, such as training centers or data processing centers. SSCBA’s range of services particularly focuses on the development of IT systems, the operation of data processing centers, the handling of payment transactions as well as training and further education. Shandong is the economically third-strongest province in Eastern China.
Even after the end of the cooperation project, Sparkassenstiftung and SCCBA have kept good contacts. Still today, Sparkassenstiftung supports the Chinese association with new ideas and incentives to improve its institutional development.
In addition to that, Sparkassenstiftung started to cooperate with various Chinese city commercial banks, which are similar to German savings banks, in 2009. These cooperation projects focus on the professionalization of the SME business of <link http: www.sparkassenstiftung.de en projects projekt zhejiang-mintai-commercial-bank-mikrokredite-fuer-kleinste-kleine-und-mittlere-unternehmen _blank>Zhejiang Mintai Commercial Bank and <link http: www.sparkassenstiftung.de en projects projekt nantong-rural-commercial-bank-mikrokredite-fuer-kleinste-kleine-und-mittlere-unternehmen _blank>Nantong Rural Commercial Bank as well as on <link http: www.sparkassenstiftung.de en projects projekt bankmanagementtrainingskurse-bankenplanspiele-1 _blank>staff training.
Consulting all over China: Sparkassenstiftung supports Chinese credit institutions in enhancing their range of services
Many Chinese credit institutions render services to wealthy private clients or large corporate customers. But the medium-sized customer segments are shunned by many financial institutions. Sparkassenstiftung is actively working in different provinces of China to support these institutions in their further development, thus enabling them to supply the medium-sized segments with financial services on a professional basis.
Further information about Sparkassenstiftung’s project activities in China can be accessed <link http: www.sparkassenstiftung.de en projects projects.html _blank>here
Contact partners:
Ferdinand Feldgen / Nicole Brand / Carina Lau
Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation
Simrockstraße 4
53113 Bonn
Phone: +49 228 9703 -6628 / -6634 / -6608
Fax: +49 228 9703-6613