In order to implement instructions of the central government and the State Council on relief work and related requests of China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) sets to plan out effective measures for the verification and write-off of outstanding loans incurred in the devastated areas of the Sichuan earthquake in a bid to relieve affected people of their financial hardships.

According to officers-in-charge of CCB, CCB has sent their staff from headquarters to branches in the affected areas day after day working overtime to check out incurred losses of outstanding loans in the quake devastated areas. They have obtained relevant information through close co-operation with local departments of civil affairs and the console of relief and succor work to confirm the lists of missing and dead borrowers; to find out details on the degree of property losses incurred by the borrowing enterprises and impact of the catastrophe on their production, operation and repayment capability etc. so as to prepare timely and accurate estimates of losses incurred by the whole bank in loan financing. Acting in accordance with stipulated rules of the Ministry of Finance, approving on the basis of criteria for bad debts of the Ministry of Finance and taking into consideration of the maturity of the loans, CCB speeds up the verification and write-off of debts and losses that personal loans, enterprises financing and bank overdraft incurred as a result of the Sichuan earthquake.

It is learned that in light of supervision requests and actual conditions of the quake-shaken areas, CCB has drawn up definite stipulations for the verification and writing-off of loan losses incurred to the devastated areas. Debtors (or cardholders), who have died or certified dead and missing, having been confirmed dead by the death or missing lists, will be individually submitted for approvals to CCB branches concerned in regard to the verification and writing-off of their outstanding loans in light of the debtors being “dead”, or having been “certified dead” or “missing”. As for debtors (or cardholders) who have lost their full civil capacities or work capacities and having obtained certificates issued by local judicial courts concerned on their losing civil capacities or having obtained certificates issued by competent authorities like appraisal commissions on their losing work capacities, CCB branches will submit their cases in line with conditions for verification and writing-off of debts in consideration of their “having lost work capacities”. Regarding debtors with houses covered by the mortgage loans to incur house collapse, damage or been ruined to be unfit for human habitation; or debtors whose loan-financing enterprises have collapsed, or whose enterprise properties such as plants and installation have been impaired but fail to be indemnified by insurance (or indemnity fails to cover the loss), CCB branches will submit their cases in line with conditions for verification and writing-off of debts in consideration of the “natural disasters” concerned upon receiving certificates of housing damage, enterprises property losses as issued by local government housing safety administration bureaus or by the console of relief and succor work. In regard to cases that fail to obtain certificates issued by outside departments concerned for indemnities to cover the losses sustained in housing or properties, CCB will set up a investigation panel jointly formed by various departments of its banking branches-in-charge to conduct field investigation and submit investigation reports on property losses sustained. For the sake of examination, names of the investigation panel, study reports of the losses for verification and write-off and minutes of meetings concerned will be submitted in application for verification and write-off of outstanding loans abovementioned. Meanwhile, stipulations on verification and write-off of bad loans as provided by the Ministry of Finance, supervisory departments and the banking sector must be strictly observed. Verification and write-off of related loans, which have to be carried out in compliance with the laws, will be subject to specific investigation.

Moreover, CCB has authorized 5 banking branches of first rank in disaster areas of Sichuan, Gansu, Chongqing, Shaanxi and Yunnan to take charge of the approvals for verification and write-off of personal bad loans below RMB150,000 yuan. To be in line with requests made by supervisory committees of People’s Bank of China and Bank of China, it is ascertained that both units and individual persons will neither be subject to calls for funds, penalties and bad records on failure to pay up various kinds of loans on time, nor will their credit worthiness be affected in any way on application for relief loans in the future in a bid to encourage enterprises to rebuild themselves after the calamities.