At a press conference on August 9, the Bank of China announced it would increase its investment in innovation, research, and development. Holding 11 blockchain patents, the bank ranks first in the domestic banking industry.

Bank of China Will Invest At Least 1% of Its Operating Income of The Year

Liu Qiuwan, chief information officer of Bank of China, opened the conference, saying, according to a rough translation,

“Bank of China will greatly increase the Group’s investment in innovation and research and development. In addition to conventional technology investment, the annual investment in research and development of science and technology is not less than 1% of the operating income of the year.”

While 1% may seem low, according to Statista, the bank generated revenue of approximately $70 billion in 2017 — it sounds a lot more impressive, doesn’t it?

The conference was held to discuss accelerating financial technology (fintech) innovation and promote digital transformation. According to local news, the Bank of China has been working on establishing a fintech company by the end of this year.

The Bank Has Put Forward Several Blockchain Technologies in The Past Months

Qiuwan revealed the bank plans on focusing their technological investment on three pillars — big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. The CIO also touched upon the 12 blockchain initiatives the bank has been working on which focus on cross-border payment, data sharing, digital currency, and other applications.

“According to the statistics of the global blockchain enterprise patent rankings in 2017. Bank of China has 11 patent applications for blockchain, ranking 20th in the global business and ranking first in the domestic banking industry,” said Qiuwan.

The bank has made clear its intention of integrating blockchain in its services as soon as possible. The local news reported the bank is already using artificial intelligence technology, big data, and real-time analysis, combined with external and internal data — blockchain technology seems like the next obvious step.

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