CITIC Bank Performance Meeting Reveals Operating Roadmap

This article is reprinted from China Securities Journal

Joining the “Trillion-Yuan Club”

CITIC Bank Reveals Operational Roadmap at Performance Conference

● By Reporter Xue Jin

On March 23, CITIC Bank held its 2025 annual performance release conference. This was the first performance conference of the year for listed banks and also CITIC Bank’s first since joining the “Trillion-Yuan Club.” Standing at this milestone of 10 trillion yuan in assets, CITIC Bank’s management stated at the conference, “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, CITIC Bank will strive for excellence in three major areas: wealth management, comprehensive financing, and investment transactions. It will also solidify its leading position in payment settlement, cross-border services, and digital intelligence, achieving a higher-level development of ‘value banking.’”

“Stable Income” and “Cost Reduction” Strategy

CITIC Bank’s 2025 annual report shows that by the end of 2025, the bank’s total assets exceeded 10 trillion yuan, reaching 101,310.28 billion yuan, a 6.28% increase from the previous year. The bank’s net profit in 2025 surpassed 70 billion yuan, a nearly 3% year-on-year increase, marking five consecutive years of positive growth; the net profit has achieved “three jumps” over five years: 500 billion, 600 billion, and 700 billion yuan.

CITIC Bank Chairman Fang Heying said that the bank has combined “stable income” and “cost reduction” strategies to open up profit growth space, mainly involving three aspects: First, maintaining net interest margin and revenue stability, with interest margins gradually stabilizing and revenue decline narrowing. The release of investment transaction capabilities and continuous growth in fee income have contributed steadily to profit growth. Second, non-performing loan (NPL) ratio has decreased for seven consecutive years, lowering credit costs, with significant results in controlling new NPLs and clearing old ones. In 2025, CITIC Bank recovered 37.2 billion yuan in NPLs, and the annual credit cost rate decreased by 0.07 percentage points, making a key contribution to profit growth. Third, controlling costs, with both operating cost ratio and total costs decreasing. The bank reduced operating costs by 2.25 billion yuan in 2025, and the cost-to-income ratio fell by 0.88 percentage points, significantly supporting profit growth.

Fang Heying emphasized that restructuring is a core ongoing task for CITIC Bank. By optimizing asset structure and strengthening risk management foundations, structural optimization will drive improvements in overall operational quality and efficiency. This work will continue as a long-term focus.

“Business structure optimization has brought capital cost advantages to CITIC Bank,” Fang said. The bank manages liability business with a “volume-price balance” approach, turning liability costs into a buffer against low interest rate impacts.

Effective Risk Control

“Asset quality is the foundation of a bank’s survival. We never aim to be the fastest in good times but to be the most stable in adverse conditions,” Fang summarized in the 2025 annual report’s chairman’s statement.

According to CITIC Bank’s management, by the end of 2025, the bank’s NPL ratio had decreased for seven consecutive years, with the provision coverage ratio remaining above 200% for a long time. The bank has cleared historical burdens, and incremental risks are controllable, with significant results in controlling new NPLs and clearing old ones.

“Building a risk control strategy centered on structural adjustment has further solidified our asset quality foundation,” Fang said. CITIC Bank has been dedicated to creating a risk management system that is effective in controlling risks and promoting development, leading to many positive changes in risk management. On the basis of revenue creation, the bank has increased its risk absorption capacity through ample provisions to digest bad loans. It also leverages CITIC Group’s unique advantages in risk coordination and has accelerated the disposal of key projects.

It is reported that CITIC Bank’s advanced legal capital measurement is steadily advancing, driving improvements in risk control systems and capabilities. Key indicators such as the “bad + watch” loan ratio and overdue loan ratio continue to improve, with problem assets operating steadily and efficiently. Structural adjustments in key areas like real estate and local government bonds are progressing in an orderly manner, gradually renewing the asset structure. The bank actively supports credit in strategic industries and regional loans, with these categories accounting for over 60%, aligning asset allocation more closely with national strategic directions, and keeping cyclical impacts at low levels.

Major Role of Corporate Business

Regarding how CITIC Bank plans to build a new development pattern under the new circumstances, Fang Heying said the bank will strengthen the construction of a “five-leading” bank, focusing on “wealth management, comprehensive financing, transaction settlement, foreign exchange services, and digitalization,” to form a situation where “corporate business leads, retail income remains stable, and risk control creates value.” The bank will further leverage the group’s "finance + industry"特色, optimizing collaboration and comprehensive financial services.

How will corporate business take the lead? Vice President Gu Lingyun said that CITIC Bank’s next development phase will focus on two markets: in the incremental market, early preparation, seizing opportunities, improving efficiency, and expanding market share; in the stock market, meticulous management, with strategic adjustments—some areas will grow, others will retreat, and the structure will be optimized to improve quality and efficiency.

Specifically, Gu said CITIC Bank will focus on three key areas: first, maintaining steady asset deployment, unwaveringly increasing credit activities, and enhancing services to the real economy; second, sticking to cost control, strengthening payment and settlement services, optimizing deposit structures, and strictly managing deposit costs; third, continuously building differentiated advantages by focusing on the “five major articles” of finance—differentiation in capital markets, cross-border finance, government finance, wealth management, fund supervision, and supply chain finance to develop comparative advantages.

Regarding product strategy, CITIC Bank will focus on key products in technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, and cross-border finance. In industry strategy, the head office completed strategies for 30 specific industries last year and plans to add 20 more in targeted sectors this year. The next step will focus on the transformation and upgrading needs of traditional industries such as shipbuilding, steel, chemicals, and energy consumption, while increasing investments in strategic fields like high-end equipment manufacturing in integrated circuits, and forward-looking sectors such as robotics, brain-computer interfaces, and 6G. The bank will also pay close attention to industries related to aging, tourism, healthcare, and culture, which are investment in people.