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Bank of ChinaChina
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This profile is actively maintained
Last update: 2024-12-17 11:29:05
Bank of China headquarters in Beijing. Photo: Max12Max via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Active
This profile is actively maintained
Last update: 2024-12-17 11:29:05
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About
| Website | http://www.boc.cn/en/index.html |
| Headquarters |
No.1 Fuxingmen Nei Street, Xicheng District
100818 Beijing
China
|
| CEO/chair |
Ge Haijiao Chairman |
| Supervisor | |
| Ownership |
listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange & Shanghai Stock Exchange
Central Huijin Investment (a state owned investment company) holds a majority share of 64.02%. Bank of China's complete shareholder structure can be viewed here. |
Bank of China is one of China's Big Four joint-stock commercial banks and was founded in 1912. Bank of China offers commercial banking, investment banking, insurance, asset management, aircraft leasing and other financial services. It is the most internationally orientated bank in China. The bank is majority-owned by the Chinese state.
Sustainability
Commitments
Policies
Voluntary standards
Bank of China does not have publicly available bank policies, nor has it a web page on corporate social responsibility. The bank's csr web page only lists its most recent annual csr reports.
Bank of China's subsidiary Bank of China Hong Kong has published environmental and csr policies on its corporate and social responsibility webpage (see below).
Bank of China has committed itself to the following voluntary standards:
Dodgy Deals
Bank Of China is linked to a number of companies and projects that BankTrack considers controversial (so called Dodgy Deals), e.g. as a current or past financier or through an expression of interest. The profiles below provide more details on the nature of Bank Of China's link to these deals.
Projects / Companies
Finance type
Year
News
BankTrack
Partners
Blog
External
Resources
Accountability
Grievances
Response
tracking
Bank of China does not operate a complaints grievances channel for individuals or communities that may be adversely affected by the bank's finance.
This page evaluates Bank of China's responses to instances of alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, raised by civil society organisations. It is not intended to be exhaustive, but covers selected impacts raised by BankTrack and other civil society partners since 2016. For the full scoring methodology, see here. For more information about BankTrack's evaluation of bank responses to human rights impacts, see the 2021 report "Actions speak louder: assessing bank responses to human rights violations".
Impacts reviewed
Responded?
Total score
Response
Action
Monitoring
Banks and Dirty Diesel: Vitol and Trafigura (May 2017)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored progress. More info
East African Crude Oil Pipeline (March 2021)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored measures taken by its client to address the impacts associated with the project. IOI Corporation labour standards violations (February 2016)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored progress. More info
Rio Tinto's Jadar mine, Serbia (December 2021)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information to indicate the bank is monitoring the actions of its clients, or actions it might itself have taken in response to the impacts raised. More info
Average
0%
0
0
0
0
Banks and Climate
Banks and Climate
The 2024 Banking on Climate Chaos report showed that Bank of China provided US$ 145.094 Billion in financing to the fossil fuel industry between 2016 and 2023. In 2023 only, Bank of China provided US$ 8.434 Billion for oil, gas and coal companies expanding fossil fuels. Find further details on Bank of China fossil fuel portfolio and how it compares to other large banks globally on Fossil Banks No Thanks and in the Banking on Climate Chaos report.
Partner organisation Reclaim Finance tracks the coal, oil and gas policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool (CPT) and the Oil and Gas Policy Tracker (OGPT). BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of Bank of China’s fossil fuel policy below.
Banks and Human Rights
Banks and Human Rights
BankTrack assessed Bank of China in its 2024 Global Human Rights Benchmark, where it achieved 0.5 points out of 15 and was ranked as a “laggard”.
The bank scored 0 out of 3 points on the new “specific rights indicators”, which assess how banks address human rights defenders, Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent and environmental rights in their policies and practices.
In addition, Bank of China scored 0 out of 3 on how it responds to alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, which were raised by civil society organisations. More information is detailed in the “Accountability” section of this profile.
The table below shows BankTrack's assessment of how Bank of China has implemented the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Please click on 'expand all details' and 'explanation' for further information on the methodology.
Our policy assessments are always a work in progress. We very much welcome any feedback, especially from banks included in the assessments. Please get in touch at humanrights@banktrack.org.
Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Bank of China
CHN
0
Laggard
0
0
Explanation
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 3 points
3.5 - 6.5 points
7 - 10 points
10.5 - 14 points
For more details see this page.
Global Human Rights Benchmark 2024
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Bank of China
CHN
0.5
Laggard
0.5
0
Explanation
Laggard
Follower
Moderate achiever
Leader
0 - 3 points
3.5 - 7 points
7.5 - 10.5 points
11 - 15 points
For more details see this page.
Banks and Nature
Banks and Nature
Bank of China's policies for forest-risk sectors (beef, soy, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber and timber) have been assessed by the Forests & Finance coalition, achieving an overall score of 0.2 out of 10 and ranking it as a laggard. Bank of China achieved a score of 0.2 out of 10 specifically for its policies related to the beef sector and 0.2 out of 10 for its policies related to the palm oil sector. In addition, BankTrack and the Environmental Paper Network have assessed Bank of China’s policies related to the pulp and paper sector.
Between 2016 and 2022, Bank of China provided USD 3,648 million in credit to companies operating in these forest-risk sectors and held investments amounting to USD 1 million as of 2022. For more information, see the links below.
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Overall scores
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Explanation
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its policies. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Beef
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Explanation
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its beef policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Palm Oil
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Explanation
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its palm oil policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.
Banks and Steel
Banks and Steel
Partner organisation Reclaim Finance’s 2023 report on metallurgical coal financing showed that Bank of China provided US$ 1.8 billion in loans and underwriting to developers of new metallurgical coal between 2016 and 2022. Find further details on Bank of China’s metallurgical coal financing and and how it compares to other large banks globally in the report.
Reclaim Finance tracks the metallurgical coal policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool. BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of Bank of China’s metallurgical coal policy below.
According to a report by Reclaim Finance, between 2016 and June 2023, Bank of China provided $23 billion in finance to the fossil-steel industry, making it the 1st largest financier worldwide. Find further details on Bank of China’s steel financing and how it compares to other large banks globally in the report.
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