The Shanghai Division of the China Banking Regulatory Commission has released a guideline, calling on the banking and financial enterprises of the city to bolster their social responsibilities.

The guideline, called the "Instruction Opinion on CSR for Shanghai Banking and Financial Corporations", encourages banking and financial corporations to actively take up their social responsibilities; protect the interest of their shareholders, employees, consumers and other related parties; and promote economic, social and environmental sustainable development.

As one of the first corporate social responsibility documents released by a local banking supervision department in China, the guideline emphasizes that banking and financial institutions should run their business with credible management practices, provide excellent financial services, protect consumers' due rights, and treat consumers fairly by providing them full information about financial products. The guideline says that the banking and financial institutions should take the responsibility to educate consumers, popularize financial knowledge and improve the public's financial and risk awareness.

The guideline says that financial institutions should take the responsibility of protecting the environment in two ways. One is to make plans on resource conservation and environmental protection by themselves and the other is to support clients' efforts in saving energy and protecting the environment by providing them financial support.