Yang Kaisheng, president of ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) said Chinese banks will have to transform themselves during the 12th five-year plan period from 2011 to 2015.

"Economic restructuring is the keyword for China's economy in the 12th five-year plan period. Restructuring will bring great opportunities and challenges to Chinese banks, especially the commercial banks," Yang told a press conference on March 6, 2011. "Banks will have more space to develop as they support the economic restructuring. But they will have to transform their asset structure, profit model, services and business structure."

Yang said that banks should focus on three key tasks. First, they should support low energy and environment-friendly industries in accordance with the state's strategy of encouraging advanced manufacturing and modern services. They should also control credit to industries with surplus production capacity, such as steel, cement and shipbuilding.

"Take ICBC for example, our loans to strategic new industries and energy-saving industries amounted to more than 6.1 trillion yuan (US$928 billion) at the end of last year, up by 17 percent. We plan to double that figure in the next 3 to 5 years," Yang says: "We tag our clients who are approved by the government with a 'Green Environment Protection' label."

The second task for Chinese banks is to give more support to small and medium-sized enterprises in accord with the five-year plan. "Loans to small and medium-sized enterprises amounted to more than 3 trillion yuan (US$456 billion) last year, accounting for about 50 percent of total loans. The rate of increase – at 45 percent - was much higher than the across-the-board increase of 16.9 percent. We will lend even more to these enterprises during the 12th five-year plan period," Yang said.

According to Yang, the third task facing Chinese banks is to develop their overseas operations in accordance with the plan. "ICBC has set up more than 200 offices in about 30 countries and regions. This is not just a matter of following other Chinese enterprises overseas; we will also endeavor to offer high quality financial services to local people," Yang said.