Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd Zhejiang
Jia Liu, 2011
During the past January Term I did an internship in ICBC Zhejiang Provincial Branch International Banking Department. Since its foundation in 1984, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has fully undertaken industrial and commercial credits and savings businesses which were originally transacted by People’s Bank of China, therefore it has taken on the responsibility of accumulating the social wealth and supporting the national construction.
My main tasks were dealing with international letter of credit (L/C), collection and some translation. Based on need and Chinese New Year break schedule, I worked from Dec 29 to Jan 26, and volunteered with some of my colleagues on weekends to a middle school in another town, teaching basic Economics knowledge and helping them develop a sense of finance managing. I’ve learnt a lot from this internship, not only did I gain knowledge in international trade, but customer service as well. Although I am not sure if working in a commercial bank will be my future career since this job is not directly related to my major, I feel this experience is really valuable.
During a work day it was common to meet with four or five customers and deal with eight to ten sets of documents. After several days’ training and hands-on practicing I had been familiar with all the L/C requirements. Besides, I learnt a lot about customer service as well. One day Ms Zhou, an employee sitting near Mr. Li, who’s one of my partners, was away for a moment. A lady who’s handing in some documents to her came in and asked me where Ms Zhou was. I said, “Oh, please wait for a moment here. She’s out in our manager’s office and she’ll be back in a minute.” Then Mr. Li said what I should have said to the lady, “Please have a seat here. May I bring you a cup of tea?” The customer service of Mr. Li is really impressive and I immediately feel that I should care more for customers, and bring them better services.
The experience in the school was also impressive. Two of my colleagues and I went there twice in a month. The school was in a small town in the south of Zhejiang province. The economy there was not good and some students had difficulty financing with their education. We three provided economics knowledge, information about education savings and deposits, and brought the students stationery. Banking in a developing country should not only be a business with people who have money, but should help reduce degrees of poverty and improve economy as well.
It is not super intense to work in a commercial bank, and one will have a lot of opportunities as a new member there. Since I did not have any sense about international standard banking practice before, everything was waiting for me to learn and understand. It is a pleasant experience to work with my supervisor and two colleagues. They provided me quite a lot hands-on tasks, as well as several books to read. The Science and Humanity courses I took in Midd made me serious and careful to details, which is essential in working. I believe my supervisor is satisfied and we all had an unforgettable month.
Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.