Revenue "turns positive" How does China Merchants Bank "stabilize" its retail ballast?

Ask AI · Retail AUM surpasses 17 trillion yuan—what is the secret to high-value customer growth?

China Economic Network reporter Qin Yufang, Guangzhou report

On March 30, China Merchants Bank held a 2025 performance results press conference. At the meeting, the management of China Merchants Bank stated that in recent years, the bank’s revenue growth has faced significant pressure. In 2025, it achieved a revenue increase of 0.01%, marking its first positive growth after declines in 2023 and 2024. Although revenue and profit growth remain under pressure, the positive trend in 2025 suggests that China Merchants Bank will actively work to stabilize and improve both.

Revenue turns positive

In recent years, China Merchants Bank’s revenue growth has faced considerable challenges. In 2025, it achieved a 0.01% increase in revenue.

According to the annual report, in 2025 China Merchants Bank achieved operating income of RMB 337.532 billion, up 0.01%; net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 150.181 billion, up 1.21%. This marks the first positive growth after decreases of 1.46% in 2023 and 0.48% in 2024.

China Merchants Bank President and CEO Wang Liang said that historically, the bank’s advantage was in its retail banking business. However, in recent years, external policies and market changes have heavily impacted retail banking, putting significant pressure on revenue growth. “We have promoted retail business by coordinating with other customer segments, filling the gaps. In 2025, we finally achieved positive growth.”

From the revenue structure perspective, in 2025, China Merchants Bank’s net interest income reached RMB 215.593 billion, an increase of 2.04%. Additionally, its non-interest net income accounted for 36.13%, higher than the industry average of 22.53% disclosed by regulators.

In terms of non-interest income, Wang Liang revealed that in 2025, large wealth management—especially retail wealth management—grew rapidly, compensating for gaps in other comprehensive income and regional growth.

According to the annual report, in 2025, China Merchants Bank’s net fee and commission income increased by 4.39% year-over-year to RMB 75.258 billion; large wealth management income reached RMB 44.013 billion, up 16.91%.

Notably, the growth rate of fee and commission income at China Merchants Bank turned positive for the first time since 2022. Additionally, fee and commission income from asset management was RMB 11.927 billion, up 10.94%. Income from custody business was RMB 5.375 billion, up 9.90%.

China Merchants Bank believes that the key factors behind the return to positive operating revenue are the narrowing of the year-over-year decline in net interest margin and growth in fee income. The annual report shows its net interest margin was 1.87%, significantly better than the industry average of 1.42% disclosed by regulators, with the decline narrowing noticeably compared to the same period.

Chairman Miao Jianmin said that whether the downward cycle continues or not, the overall trend remains positive.

Retail customer assets exceed 17 trillion yuan

 Behind the positive revenue trend, the deep transformation and structural optimization of retail business have played crucial roles. As the long-term “pillar” of China Merchants Bank, after external shocks, the retail financial segment is demonstrating stronger resilience and growth momentum through customer segmentation, ecosystem collaboration, and service upgrades.

 Regarding retail business structure, in recent years, while its contribution to revenue and profit has not grown as rapidly as before, the structure has undergone significant changes.

 Specifically, retail customer numbers have grown rapidly. By the end of 2025, China Merchants Bank’s retail customer base reached 224 million, an increase of 6.67% from the previous year. High-value customer growth was even faster: 5.9315 million Jin Kuihua and above customers, up 13.29% from 2024. Meanwhile, AUM grew quickly, reaching RMB 17.08 trillion by the end of 2025, up 14.44% from 2024, setting a new record. Additionally, the bank’s share of the retail credit market continued to increase, with retail loans totaling RMB 365.467 billion, up 2.15% from the previous year.

 Wang Liang pointed out that retail banking has faced significant shocks recently, but the bank has achieved good results through transformation, upgrading, and diversified development.

 Notably, actively expanding AUM scale has become a foundational strategy for many banks’ retail transformation and multi-party collaboration. According to Yu Fenghui, senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, growth in retail customer scale is strategically important for banks; it is a key measure to address current challenges and ensure long-term development. “Banks generally focus on increasing retail customer numbers, which directly reflects the shift from traditional reliance on interest margin income to a diversified income model.”

Lou Feipeng, researcher at Postal Savings Bank of China, further analyzed that under interest rate liberalization and financial disintermediation, corporate business growth has slowed and risks are concentrated. Retail business, by contrast, benefits from strong anti-cyclicality, risk dispersion, and low capital consumption. Customer scale forms the basis for AUM growth and cross-selling, allowing banks to lower customer acquisition costs and enhance scale effects. This shift also reflects a move from “product-centered” to “customer-centered” management, emphasizing full lifecycle value management to build sustainable profitability.

Wang Liang said that in the future, “we will continue to uphold the original intention of retail banking and further strengthen our systemic competitive advantages.”

 Wang Liang further emphasized that to consolidate retail advantages, efforts will focus on: expanding the customer base; improving product offerings; upgrading service models—combining online and offline channels to enhance customer experience; building an ecosystem with asset management, funds, trusts, and insurance institutions, offering high-quality products through channels to create value; and managing risks effectively.

“Through these efforts, the systemic capabilities of retail business will be comprehensively enhanced, with revenue and profit contributions maintaining around 50%, playing a stabilizing role,” Wang Liang stressed.

The head of China Merchants Bank’s retail division also emphasized that moving forward, the bank will reduce retail credit risks and improve credit quality by optimizing business structure, prioritizing collateral-based lending, raising entry standards (especially for consumer and small micro loans), dynamically adjusting customer segments, and implementing strategies such as “early warning, early exposure, early resolution, and early disposal.”

Digital and intelligent transformation accelerates comprehensively

 China Merchants Bank continues to ramp up investment in digital and intelligent initiatives. The annual report shows that in 2025, the bank’s IT investment reached RMB 12.901 billion, accounting for 4.31% of operating revenue.

 Particularly in AI capabilities, infrastructure construction and scenario deployment have accelerated in tandem. Its intelligent computing infrastructure increased daily token throughput by 10.1 times compared to 2024, and 183 specialized models have been deployed for specific applications.

 Regarding large-model R&D and scenario applications, Zhou Tianhong, Chief Information Officer, said that from the emergence of large-model technology about three years ago, the pace of progress has been rapid. While the technology continues to advance quickly, societal transformation is still ongoing. From China Merchants Bank’s experience, the breadth and depth of deployment are progressing rapidly.

 In 2025, large-model applications at China Merchants Bank have been fully operational. Zhou Tianhong revealed that the bank has mapped out 45 business areas and 3,400 key projects, with over 1,500 where large models can be applied. This number is dynamically evolving with technological progress.

“Of course, large models still face challenges such as hallucinations in banking applications. We are investing more to reduce hallucinations and develop precise, reliable solutions. Over the past six months, we’ve made good progress, and this year we’ve set higher goals,” Zhou Tianhong said.

 Zhou Tianhong believes that future industry differentiation will focus on two areas: operations and technology. China Merchants Bank has already built strong core competitiveness in operations; the next step is to develop a technological moat. This will help the bank maintain long-term competitiveness amid industry competition and economic cycles.

 (Editor: Zhang Manyou; Review: He Shasha; Proofread: Zhai Jun)