Bank of China provides 30b yuan for China's winter sports and industry

BEIJING - The Bank of China (BOC), the first official partner of the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, announced its Winter Olympics action plan here on Tuesday by providing 30 billion yuan (about $4.8 billion) for China's winter sports and industry from now to 2024.

With the theme of "taking part in winter sports together", the BOC's action plan aims to encourage 30 million Chinese family and 100 million Chinese people to take part in winter sports and give a boost to the sports industry.

Beijing will be the only city to host Summer and Winter editions of the Olympic Games. The BOC is the only bank in China that serves both 2008 and 2022 Olympics.

Chen Siqing, president of the BOC, said the bank will further improve service network and diversify financial products so as to provide a wide range of best-quality financial services for Beijing 2022. With its global network and vast customer resource, the bank will also encourage people's enthusiasm for participation in winter sports on snow and ice, while supporting the country's winter sports industry.

Since its launch in February 2017, Beijing 2022's marketing program has received considerable attention and interest from different sectors. Beijing 2022 has signed five official partners so far, including Bank of China, Air China, Yili Group (dairy products), ANTA (sports apparel), and China Unicom.

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, spoke highly of China's preparations for the Beijing Winter Games during the Pyeongchang Olympics.

He said last month that organizers of Beijing 2022 have done an overwhelming job and achieved a marketing revenue doubling the figure planned in the candidature procedure.