Following a vacancy lasting over five months, CITIC Bank (601998.SH) is set to fill its president position. According to reports, Lü Tiangui, the Chairman of CITIC Trust, is expected to return to CITIC Bank to assume the role of president. If confirmed, this move would see a 22-year veteran of CITIC Bank's retail business, who was transferred to CITIC Trust just a year ago, rejoin the bank to partner with Chairman Fang Heying. Upon Lü's formal appointment, CITIC Bank's senior management team will be fully structured with one president and six vice presidents.
Concurrently, CITIC Bank has recently presented a mixed financial report. While its total assets surpassed 10 trillion yuan, and its net profit attributable to shareholders reached a record high exceeding 70 billion yuan, its credit card business continued to shrink, and retail profits nearly halved, posing underlying concerns behind the impressive figures. The market is keenly watching how Lü Tiangui, a seasoned retail expert, will address these challenges on this new test paper.
**1. Veteran CITIC Executive Lü Tiangui Poised for Return, Completing "One President, Six VPs" Structure**
Lü Tiangui, born in 1972, previously worked at Bank of China's Jilin branch for nearly a decade, serving as Deputy Director of the Risk Management Department. He joined CITIC Bank in 2003, building a 22-year career there.
He is best known as a "credit card expert." From 2014 to 2019, Lü served as President of CITIC Bank's Credit Card Center. Under his leadership, the credit card business expanded rapidly and underwent a significant transformation towards a digital operating model. During this period, he also served as General Manager of the Retail Banking and Private Banking Departments, gradually establishing comprehensive oversight of the retail business.
In April 2021, Lü was promoted to Vice President of CITIC Bank, overseeing retail, technology, operations, and other divisions, while concurrently serving as Chairman of CITIC Baixin Bank.
In early 2025, CITIC Group implemented a key round of adjustments to senior management positions within its core financial institutions, resulting in a "two-way handover" between CITIC Bank and CITIC Trust.
In February 2025, Lu Wei, then Chairman of CITIC Trust, was transferred to CITIC Bank as Deputy Party Secretary, with his qualification as President approved in April. Prior to this, Lu Wei had a long tenure at CITIC Bank, holding positions such as General Manager of the Head Office Business Department, Head of the Party Organization Department at the Head Office, and General Manager of the Head Office Asset-Liability Management Department.
In a corresponding move, in March 2025, Lü Tiangui resigned as Vice President of CITIC Bank and assumed the role of Party Secretary at CITIC Trust. In September of the same year, his qualifications as Chairman and Director of CITIC Trust were officially approved by regulators. This personnel arrangement marked CITIC Group's strategic deployment of executive resources between its two core financial sectors: banking and trust.
During his tenure at the helm of CITIC Trust, Lü delivered strong results. By the end of 2025, CITIC Trust's managed trust assets reached 3.79 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 44.6%, reclaiming the top industry position. Its net profit attributable to shareholders was 3.052 billion yuan, up 15.03% year-on-year.
However, this strategic balance was soon disrupted. In December 2025, after only eight months in his new role, Lu Wei abruptly resigned and was transferred to China Post Group as Deputy General Manager, subsequently taking up the position of President at Postal Savings Bank of China (601658.SH). Lu Wei's departure left the CITIC Bank presidency vacant, with Chairman Fang Heying acting in the role for over five months.
Lü Tiangui's return now carries a sense of being called upon in a critical situation. On one hand, Fang Heying's tenure as acting president is nearing the six-month limit. On the other hand, the retail business line once overseen by Lü is facing growth pressures.
According to market sources, following Lü's return to CITIC Bank, Liang Huijiang, Investment Director of CITIC Limited and Chairman of CITIC Investment, is expected to succeed him as Chairman of CITIC Trust.
On May 7th, CITIC Bank promoted another senior executive. Zhao Yuanxin, former General Manager of the Credit Execution Department, was promoted to Vice President. He is also a veteran of CITIC Bank, having led three first-tier branches in Nanchang, Suzhou, and Shanghai. His core strength lies in combining regional operational experience with head office credit risk management capabilities. Based on his background, his responsibilities are expected to primarily cover corporate credit, credit approval, or risk management, aligning closely with CITIC Bank's current strategic focus on "strengthening risk control and stabilizing corporate banking."
If Lü Tiangui assumes the presidency, the senior management team will form a complete "one president, six vice presidents" structure, in addition to Business Director Lu Jingen and Board Secretary Zhang Qing.
Judging from the current executive lineup, CITIC Bank's future business focus may feature "dual-track parallel development." Among the six vice presidents, most have experience in corporate banking or risk management: Hu Gang, Xie Zhibin, and He Jinsong have long been involved in corporate business and branch management, while Jin Xinian concurrently serves as Chief Risk Officer, overseeing the risk control division.
Only Gu Lingyun among the six comes from a retail banking background, having served as General Manager of the Retail Banking Department. Lü Tiangui's return will significantly bolster the executive strength in the retail segment.
**2. Record Highs in Total Assets and Net Profit, but Retail Business Lags Behind**
In 2025, CITIC Bank delivered a record-breaking performance: total assets achieved a historic breakthrough, reaching 10.13 trillion yuan, successfully entering the "10-trillion-yuan club." Net profit attributable to shareholders surpassed the 70 billion yuan mark for the first time, recording 70.618 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.98%. Both core indicators set new historical peaks, scaling new heights in both scale and profitability.
However, the scale expansion did not bring synchronized growth in operating income. In 2025, CITIC Bank's operating income was 2.12475 trillion yuan, a decrease of 0.55% year-on-year, making it the only one among the four joint-stock banks with assets exceeding 10 trillion yuan to report negative revenue growth.
The core issue behind the sluggish revenue growth is the widespread challenge of narrowing net interest margins (NIM) faced by the banking industry. In 2025, net interest income was 1.44469 trillion yuan, down 1.51% year-on-year. The net interest margin was 1.63%, a decrease of 14 basis points year-on-year, and further declined to 1.61% in the first quarter of 2026.
Chairman Fang Heying admitted at the 2025 annual results briefing that the NIM compression was "2-3 basis points more than peers." Fortunately, cost control on the liability side was effective, with a significant decline in deposit costs, which helped offset pressure on the asset side; otherwise, NIM pressure would have been greater.
From a business structure perspective, CITIC Bank's 2025 performance showed a clear divergence: corporate banking experienced strong growth, while retail banking faced significant pressure.
CITIC Bank demonstrated strong competitiveness in the corporate sector. By the end of 2025, the bank's corporate loan balance exceeded 3 trillion yuan, reaching 3.29 trillion yuan, a substantial increase of 13.24% from the end of the previous year, with manufacturing, leasing, and business services being the main sources of growth. Concurrently, the non-performing loan ratio for corporate loans decreased by 15 basis points year-on-year to 1.09%, indicating continued improvement in asset quality.
The strong performance of corporate banking is directly reflected in its profit contribution. In 2025, the pre-tax profit from corporate banking was 54.324 billion yuan, an increase of 9.02% year-on-year, with its share further rising to 64.6%, making it the bank's most core profit source. The financial markets business followed closely, with a pre-tax profit share of 32.1%, solidifying its position as the second-largest profit segment.
In stark contrast to the stability of corporate banking, the retail business is undergoing deep adjustment. In 2025, operating income from retail banking decreased by 7.37% year-on-year to 79.367 billion yuan, while pre-tax profit plummeted by 42.55% year-on-year to only 5.303 billion yuan. Its share of the bank's total profit dropped from 11.4% to 6.3%.
Looking over a longer time horizon, this downward trend appears even more pronounced. Back in 2021, the retail business's profit contribution was as high as 34.6%, almost matching that of the corporate business. At that time, a "retail + corporate" dual-engine growth pattern was taking shape. However, over the subsequent four years, the retail business's profit contribution has continuously shrunk, widening the gap with the corporate business.
The ongoing contraction of the credit card business is a core issue behind the retail segment's decline. At the end of 2025, the credit card loan balance was 463.091 billion yuan, shrinking for two consecutive years, representing an 11.16% decrease from the end of 2023. This scale has fallen back to levels seen around 2018. Meanwhile, the credit card non-performing loan ratio has continued to climb, reaching 2.62% at the end of 2025, up 0.12 percentage points from the end of the previous year, also the highest level in recent years.
Lü Tiangui's return coincides with CITIC Bank reaching the critical milestone of 10 trillion yuan in assets. He faces a dual task: stabilizing the foundation of the corporate banking business to sustain the momentum of scale expansion, while also reversing the困境 of the retail business to steer the retail segment back onto a growth trajectory. The former president of the Credit Card Center will now directly confront the risks that have accumulated in the very field he once cultivated. How he will reshape the business he once helped propel is undoubtedly a key focus of market attention.
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