The tide of the times is surging, and the Western Land-Sea New Corridor is rapidly growing from a logistics route into an economic artery linking Europe and Asia. Building this corridor carries great significance for advancing an opening-up framework characterized by "connectivity between land and sea, and two-way mutual benefit between east and west." In the first half of this year, the total import and export volume of the "13+2" provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities along the corridor reached 517.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13%, setting a record high for the same period in history and effectively driving the opening-up of western China.
In 2026, Chongqing held a work conference on deepening the construction of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor, proposing to "actively explore a new system of land trade rules and elevate the level of institutional opening-up in inland regions," focusing on strengthening the leadership of the "single-document system" and reinforcing policy supply around key links such as trade transportation, customs clearance, finance, and dispute resolution. In the same year, a work conference on financial support for the construction of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor was held in Chongqing, and the Land-Sea New Corridor Financial Service Center was officially unveiled, launching substantive operations as a financial service platform entrusted by the national level to serve the corridor.
Last November, the People's Bank of China and seven other departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Financial Support for Accelerating the Construction of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor," proposing 21 key financial support measures to drive the two core financial functions of "financing" and "settlement," and supporting all relevant parties in exploring ways to ensure, through agreements, the uniqueness and transferability of transport documents as documents of title.
A Cross-Border Journey of One Container: From "Goods in Transit" to "Funds Delivered Directly"
A container packed at an Australian factory boards a rail-sea intermodal train, crossing mountains and seas toward its destination. In the past, such a cross-border journey was typically accompanied by a thick stack of paper documents: mailing, transmission, review, and title verification—cumbersome procedures and lengthy cycles. Difficulties in determining cargo ownership and slow financing disbursement followed, placing pressure on enterprises' cash flow turnover. The journey of a single container also reflects the reality that trade finance rules still need continuous improvement.
In response to common industry challenges, Bank of Chongqing Co., Ltd. (ASX: 601963), referred to as BCQ, proactively broke through traditional service models. Based on the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents (NCD Convention), and under the guidance of the People's Bank of China Chongqing Branch and the Chongqing Regulatory Bureau of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the bank collaborated with Land-Sea New Corridor Operation Co., Ltd., Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Chongqing Branch and its Sydney Branch. Leveraging two core platforms—the central bank's "Western Land-Sea Smart Finance Platform" and the digital bill of lading of Land-Sea New Corridor Operation Co., Ltd.—and aligning with the "one-document-through" intermodal characteristics of the corridor, the bank customized a digital letter of credit financing solution. Recently, it successfully completed the nation's first eNCD (electronic Negotiable Cargo Document) letter of credit business, achieving on-chain storage, real-time verification, and full traceability for eNCD documents, cargo trajectories, ownership attribution, and pledge status.
"In the past, paper-based financing procedures were cumbersome and cycles were long. Now, eNCD electronic documents circulate entirely online with automatic title verification, greatly improving financing efficiency," said the head of the partnering enterprise. Digital documents transform goods in transit into financiable digital assets, effectively alleviating cash flow pressures.
The change brought by a single electronic document reflects a shift in the underlying logic of trade finance: from manual verification to digital title confirmation, from "goods in transit" to "funds delivered directly."
An Innovative Practice with One Document: Multiple Breakthroughs in the First Transaction
Compared with traditional models, this first eNCD transaction achieved multiple breakthroughs. First, it opened up the entire cross-border chain, enabling integrated flow of logistics, information, and capital, with documents transmitted smoothly among domestic and overseas enterprises and Chinese and foreign banks. Second, it deepened the empowerment of digital technology, relying on the two platforms for on-chain verification to achieve digitization, verifiability, transferability, and financiability of documents, with cargo pledge and full-process risk control closed-loop implementation. Third, it built a multi-dimensional collaborative ecosystem. Under this model, by linking financial and logistics entities, it helped reduce enterprise financing costs by 80 basis points, saved approximately 20 days in overall transportation time compared with traditional logistics models, and reduced the comprehensive cost per container by more than 40% year-on-year.
Behind the first transaction lies Bank of Chongqing Co., Ltd. (ASX: 601963)'s long-term cultivation in corridor finance. As a local incorporated bank in Chongqing, the bank has been deeply engaged in financial innovation for the Western Land-Sea New Corridor for years, continuously enriching its corridor-specific financial product system and supporting the upgrading of inland opening-up. The landing of this eNCD letter of credit business truly achieved connectivity of logistics, data, capital, and trade, allowing foreign trade enterprises to tangibly feel the dividends of innovation. The journey of a container, reconstructed by a digital document, has begun to accelerate at a different pace.
A Bank's Deep Cultivation in the Corridor: "Benefiting and Smoothing Land-Sea" in the Semi-Annual Report
The latest semi-annual report shows that Bank of Chongqing Co., Ltd. (ASX: 601963), referred to as BCQ, closely aligns with national strategies such as the construction of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor, deepens the building of the "Benefiting and Smoothing Land-Sea" trade finance brand, and promotes the coordinated development of corridor finance, cross-border finance, and digital-intelligent finance, continuously improving the quality and efficiency of serving the real economy.
Corridor finance advanced in depth. As of the end of the reporting period, the bank's outstanding financing balance supporting the construction of the Land-Sea New Corridor exceeded 60 billion yuan, up 9.3% from the beginning of the year. It continued to expand its global correspondent bank network, launched the "Global Multi-Currency Connect" cross-border multi-currency receipt and payment product, promoted "single-document" financing for multimodal transport, and continuously enriched the brand's connotations.
Cross-border finance made steady progress. The bank's foreign currency bond investment scale grew, and net interest margin continued to expand; it invested in Chongqing's first sustainability bond listed on the Singapore Exchange and the first foreign-currency-denominated Yulan Bond; it completed Chongqing's first dry port warehouse receipt pledge financing and "three-document financing" business; exchange rate hedging services improved in quality and efficiency, helping enterprises avoid risks and reduce costs.
Digital-intelligent finance was optimized and upgraded. It optimized the foreign currency savings function of mobile banking, advanced CIPS transceiver construction, and achieved steady growth in cross-border RMB settlement volume; launched corporate online banking trade finance functions, achieving full online coverage of cross-border settlement and trade finance; rolled out supply chain finance products such as "Cloud Credit," with significant growth in disbursement and intermediary business income.
In recent years, Bank of Chongqing Co., Ltd. (ASX: 601963) has maintained steady operating quality and efficiency, with overall stable asset quality and continuously increased efforts to serve national and regional strategies. As the Western Land-Sea New Corridor leaps from a "trade route" to an "economic corridor," the financial innovation of a local incorporated bank is translating into tangible financing efficiency for foreign trade enterprises.
2026 is the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan and a crucial year for expanding and upgrading financial support for corridor construction. From the inter-provincial consultation and cooperation joint meeting to the economic development forum, from the unveiling of the financial service center to the introduction of 21 specialized financial policies, the Western Land-Sea New Corridor is accelerating its transition from "physical connectivity" to "rules connectivity," and from a "trade route" to an "economic corridor."
On this great artery linking Europe and Asia, every document verified digitally and every redefined financing arrangement represents a small step forward for the land trade rules system. From "manual verification" to "digital title confirmation," from "physical connectivity" to "digital empowerment," the cross-border journey of a container, the innovative breakthrough of an electronic document, and the landing of a financing transaction are opening new imaginative space for trade finance along the Western Land-Sea New Corridor. Facing new opportunities from corridor upgrading, Bank of Chongqing Co., Ltd. (ASX: 601963) is continuing to advance financial innovation, helping Chongqing elevate its status as an inland opening-up gateway, optimize cross-border financial services, and inject financial momentum into the high-quality development of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor.