Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gets SPH's help for new B2B platform

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has partnered with Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to develop a bilingual B2B e-commerce platform. This is to enhance cross-border trade between China and Southeast Asia.The platform, which is in English and Chinese, is supported by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore. It will provide one-stop B2B services to business enterprises in China, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries.SPH will start a bilingual internet portal for enterprises from Southeast Asia and China to promote their products and services while tapping on the clients and services provided by the existing e-commerce platform or "e-mall" managed by ICBC.The partnership will see SPH and ICBC maintaining strategic cooperation, consolidating resources and experiences in their respective industries.  They will also consider the other party as their preferred partner for any business cooperation, financial related services and exhibitions.SPH will recommend established enterprises to ICBC to cooperate in business developments in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries while ICBC will create conditions to facilitate cross-border e-commerce and also more leads for Chinese enterprises who are keen to establish e-commerce marketplaces in Singapore.Both parties will jointly carry out the promotion and publicity matters to enhance the value and position of the cross-border e-commerce platform.According to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that was signed, SPH and ICBC will jointly organise an annual exhibition on the Internet economy to attract the participation of enterprises in Singapore, Southeast Asia and China."In line with China's national strategy of globalising the renminbi (RMB), ICBC has also responded with an e-commerce strategy to promote cross-border trade. As such, ICBC, which is the sole RMB Clearing Bank in Singapore, believed in partnering SPH to develop an e-commerce platform to offer B2B services that will benefit enterprises in Singapore, Southeast Asia and China," Yi Huiman, chairman of ICBC, said."Riding on the fast-growing e-commerce industry, we hope to partner ICBC to build the first bilingual cross-border e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia that will help enterprises in the region expand market reach and promote growth in trade," Alan Chan, CEO of SPH, said.