Thanks to strong capabilities in product innovation and bond underwriting, ICBC has issued nearly RMB 3 billion worth of perpetual bonds as the lead manager for Tianjin Airlines and other companies in the first half of this year. Since the launch of perpetual bonds in the inter-bank market at the end of 2013, ICBC has underwritten 34 perpetual bonds, with a total value of over RMB 40 billion, which leads among its peers.

A perpetual bond is a mixed debt instrument with the feature of equity financing, which is included in the owner's equity, effectively reducing the issuer's asset-liability ratio and optimize the financial structure. A perpetual bond is usually structured as "base term +N", with no specified maturity date. Investors may receive interest regularly whereas the issuer determines the termination of the bond.

According to an expert given currently high leverage among the corporate sector, commercial banks may help companies expand channel of financing and reduce asset-liability ratio via direct financing such as perpetual bonds, which has strong implications in improving corporate competitiveness and driving healthy growth of real economy.