ICBC Launches B2B On-Line Payment ServiceThe Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) June 26 launched B2B on-line payment service with five Internet service companies.A spokesman for the ICBC said that business-to-business on- line payment service refers to real time capital transferring and settlement via the Internet, using information from orders in electronic-commerce activities among enterprises. Partners of this cooperation include the Capinfo Company Ltd., China-Enterprise.com, 8848.net, Tsinghua Tongfang Co. Ltd. and the Beijing University Founder Co. Ltd., all of which are leading Internet service providers in China. The spokesman said that e-commerce has achieved great progress in China over the past two years. The launching of B2B on-line payment business facilitates real time capital settlement for enterprises on-line trading, solving difficulties in capital payment that hindered the development of B2B e-commerce. As China's largest state-owned commercial bank, the ICBC has 8. 1 million industrial and commercial corporate accounts, and maintains long-term cooperation with over 40,000 state-owned large enterprises, Sino-overseas joint ventures and multi-national corporations, with settlement business volume accounting for more than 50 percent of the total in the country's financial system. Since the ICBC opened on-line institutional banking services in February this year, it has opened on-line banking services in 31 cities. |
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