Origin of CSR

1. January 1999, the UN Secretary General at the time Kofi A. Annan put forward the concept of “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) as well as the Global Compact for promoting CSR at the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland.

2. July 2000, the UN headquarters officially launched the Global Compact initiative, calling on all companies to fulfill their social responsibilities and abide by ten basic principles regarding human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.

3. 2002, Fortune magazine included CSR as a key benchmark in its selection of the World’s Most Admired Companies. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) also began to use environmental protection and the establishment of good customer relations and investor relations as its major evaluation criteria.

CSR Policies in China

1.January 2006, the new Company Law of the People's Republic of China clearly set forth in Article 5 that, “in conducting its business, a company must abide by laws, administrative rules and regulations, observe social morals and business ethics, act in good faith, subject itself to the supervision of the government and the public and fulfill social responsibilities.”

2. October 2006, the resolution passed during the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixteenth Central Committee of the CCP featured the decision to “increase the social responsibilities of citizens, companies and various organizations”.

3. September 2006, the Guideline on CRS of Public Companies In the Shenzhen Stock Exchange was issued, which defined the detailed requirements regarding the social responsibilities of public companies in regard to protection of the rights and interests of shareholders and debtors , protection of the rights and interests of employees, protection of the rights and interests of suppliers, customers and consumers, environmental protection, sustainable development, public relations and commonwealth undertakings.

4. April 2007, the Guideline on CSR of Financial Institutions of the Shanghai Banking Industry was issued by Shanghai Bureau of the CBRC, which set forth CSR requirements for financial institutions in Shanghai’s banking industry regarding the protection of stakeholder rights and interests, environmental protection, protection of public interests and corporate social responsibilities.

5. December 2007, the Opinions of CBRC Office on Strengthening CSR of Banking Financial Institutions was announced, which defined the role and influence of banks in the promotion of social responsibility and set forth the direction and measures for the fulfillment of CSR. The Opinions required institutions to publish annual CSR reports to and establish clear approaches and objectives for CSR fulfillment.

6. January 2009, the Shanghai Stock Exchange issued a guide for the preparation of CSR Fulfillment Report to all public companies, setting forth normative requirements for CSR fulfillment reporting, identifying the main focuses on social sustainability, environment and ecological sustainability, and economic sustainability, requiring the disclosure of the social contribution of each share and the calculation method were possible and suggesting third-party verification.

7. January 2009, China Banking Association (CBA) distributed a notice regarding social responsibility guidelines to every organization member, stating that the CSR of financial institutions shall at least include economic responsibility, social responsibility and environmental responsibility. The guidelines also set forth specific requirements regarding social responsibility management.