At the joint interim results conference for 2026 held by CITIC Group on September 4th, Executive Director and Vice President Hu Gang detailed the future development direction for CITIC Bank. He revealed that the bank has formulated its "15th Five-Year Plan" and introduced the "Three-Three Strategy," which encompasses three areas of excellence and three areas of leadership. The three excellence pillars aim to establish a premier wealth management bank, a top-tier comprehensive financing bank, and an outstanding investment and transaction bank, with the goal of pursuing first-class professionalism and setting industry benchmarks. The three leadership pillars focus on building a leading payment and settlement bank, a leading cross-border services bank, and a leading digital bank, positioning the institution as a top performer within the sector.
Hu explained that the "Three-Three Strategy" represents a comprehensive upgrade of traditional corporate banking operations, driven by evolving client demands and emerging market opportunities. The excellence in wealth management is an extension of conventional deposit services; the excellence in comprehensive financing and investment transactions extends traditional lending activities; the leadership in payment and settlement and cross-border financial services builds upon non-deposit and non-loan businesses; while the digital banking leadership pillar fundamentally reshapes the bank's growth drivers from the ground up. The bank's strategic evolution has followed a consistent path, progressing from the four major operational themes, through the 32-strong action plan and the development of five leading banking capabilities, to the current "Three-Three Strategy," continuously reinforcing its core competitiveness.
Compared with the "14th Five-Year Plan" strategy, this iteration notably adds the new strategic direction of excellent investment and transaction banking. Hu attributed this addition to multiple internal and external environmental shifts: externally, global economies are at different points in their cycles, leading to increased demand for cross-market and cross-cycle asset allocation. This is compounded by heightened geopolitical tensions, which have boosted needs for risk hedging and value preservation. Domestically, the low-interest-rate environment allows bond investments to generate both coupon income and price differential gains, while the expansion of direct financing markets highlights the trend toward investment-banking-style and asset-management-style operations, thereby elevating the value of investment and transaction businesses. Additionally, the internationalization of the RMB and the acceleration of corporate overseas expansion have driven sustained growth in cross-border investment and financing, as well as currency and interest rate risk management needs.
On the internal front, the bank leverages the unique synergies of the CITIC Group. Furthermore, CITIC Bank has nearly three decades of experience in RMB exchange rate, interest rate, and precious metals market-making operations. As a core market maker, it has accumulated a solid market position and deep professional expertise.
Looking ahead to the implementation of the strategy over the next five years, Hu outlined three key areas of focus. First, deepening client management both vertically and horizontally. Vertically, the bank will place clients at the center across all business lines, intensifying relationship management. Horizontally, it will capitalize on CITIC Group's synergies by integrating the group's licenses and product resources, breaking down departmental barriers to provide one-stop solutions for diverse client needs. Second, advancing structural optimization to build a healthier balance sheet by continuously refining the liability structure, reinforcing the advantages of low-cost liabilities, proactively managing asset allocation, diversifying revenue streams, maintaining strict asset quality controls, and optimizing macro asset allocation. Third, enhancing institutional capabilities by reforming organizational and operational mechanisms, boosting digital proficiency, and implementing data-driven performance evaluation and decision-making systems.
Hu concluded that CITIC Bank has historically achieved steady and resilient growth. With a clear strategic direction for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the bank is confident in its ability and capacity to realize high-quality development.
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