As China's population ages and the silver economy unlocks growing potential, meeting the diverse financial needs of older people and protecting elderly consumers' rights has become a key focus for the financial system in delivering on its people-centered mission.
As a leading national joint-stock commercial bank, China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) has actively implemented national strategy, deepened age-friendly financial service reforms, innovated pension finance product offerings, precisely empowered the development of the elderly care industry, and reinforced protections for elderly financial consumers, using warm, forceful and in-depth financial practices to help older people achieve security, comfort and well-being in retirement.
Three Pillars of Retirement Security Work in Concert
As one of the earlier commercial banks to enter pension finance, China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) is deeply involved in building China's three-pillar retirement security system, laying out pension finance, retirement service finance and elderly care industry finance across the board, injecting financial momentum into upgrading livelihood retirement security and high-quality development of the elderly care industry.
According to the bank, it started early and built deep foundations over the years, continuously filling out business qualifications and consolidating its base. As early as 2005, it was among the first batch to secure both enterprise annuity account manager and custodian qualifications; in 2007 it added annuity trustee qualification, completing full-chain annuity service capability; in 2016 it was selected among the first batch of basic old-age insurance fund custodians; and in 2022 it became one of the first pilot banks for the national private pension business, consistently following national pension policy direction and seizing early opportunities in pension finance.
"To further coordinate pension finance development and strengthen strategic layout, China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) set up a dedicated pension finance leadership group in 2023, strengthening top-level design, increasing resource allocation and optimizing organizational structure to fully cultivate the three core areas of pension finance, retirement service finance and elderly care industry finance, gradually building an integrated pension finance operating service system with diverse formats, rich scenarios and comprehensive products, achieving systematic, large-scale and professional pension finance development," a head of the bank's pension finance department told reporters.
China's retirement security system centers on three pillars: basic old-age insurance, enterprise and occupational annuities, and private pensions. The bank precisely aligns with the requirements of the three-pillar build, working on multiple fronts in coordination and achieving substantial pension finance results.
In the first pillar of basic old-age insurance, it deeply participates in national social security informatization, continuously optimizing convenient service models, promoting social security services that can be handled nearby and on mobile phones, greatly improving convenience for the public. By the first half of 2026, China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) had issued over 100 million electronic social security cards.
In the second pillar, leveraging its complete set of annuity business licenses, the bank continues to provide annuity agents and principals with one-stop, high-quality comprehensive financial services, with robust and outstanding investment and operating capability. By the first half of 2026, its annuity trustee investment performance continued to outperform the market average, and account management services covered more than 2.5 million enterprise employees, effectively protecting their retirement rights.
In the third pillar of private pensions, the bank actively implements the private pension system, vigorously popularizing private pension financial services. By the first half of 2026, cumulative private pension accounts opened exceeded 17 million. Currently, the bank's three-pillar pension custody scale totals 1.7 trillion yuan, comprehensively supporting the implementation and improvement of the multi-tier retirement security system.
Targeting residents' whole-life retirement needs, the bank has created an exclusive "Abundant Life" retirement service system, integrating diversified financial products and inclusive non-financial benefits, comprehensively covering mass retirement savings, retirement wealth management, retirement planning and convenience services, breaking the limitations of single financial services, truly achieving deep integration of financial services with livelihood retirement scenarios, and effectively improving residents' retirement quality of life.
At the same time, China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) cultivates elderly care industry finance to help the real elderly care economy improve quality and expand capacity. "Currently, the elderly care industry is in a stage of rapid development and iterative upgrading, with long industry chains, rich sub-sectors and huge development potential," the head said, adding that the bank continues to deepen elderly care industry research, mapping out a full industry chain landscape, and creating professional, customized comprehensive financial service solutions tailored to industry characteristics to precisely empower elderly care enterprises' operations and development.
Relevant data shows that as of the end of June 2026, the bank's elderly care industry loan scale and number of elderly care enterprise clients served both increased by 50% from the beginning of the year, providing solid financial support for the large-scale, high-quality development of the elderly care industry.
From "Managing Retirement Funds Well" to "Using Retirement Funds Well"
As a commercial bank characterized by retail banking, CM BANK (ASX: 03968) always upholds its people-centered mission, letting silver-haired clients feel warmth and respect in financial services. According to the bank, it has fully completed basic age-friendly barrier-free renovations at branches, launched the 95555 Abundant Life hotline, and created a senior version of the CM BANK (ASX: 03968) App, letting silver-haired clients enjoy the convenience of technological development.
"It's very reassuring to handle business at a CM BANK (ASX: 03968) branch. Not only is their service good, they also provide reading glasses, blood pressure monitors and medicine kits," said a woman in her 80s at a branch in Beijing's Financial Street. "They also patiently taught me how to check accounts, transfer money and pay water and electricity bills, and they often hold anti-fraud lectures."
Retirement needs don't belong only to older clients. More and more young people are awakening to retirement planning early and starting to prepare ahead. To this end, China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) has built whole-life retirement financial services around client needs: in the preparation stage, it provides long-term retirement asset allocation plans for young and middle-aged clients, guiding a long-termist preparation mindset; as clients enter retirement, it helps them use retirement funds with peace of mind through retirement cash flow planning, age-friendly financial services and retirement benefit packages.
To improve client service experience, the bank has refined its product service system from two dimensions: "managing retirement funds well" and "using retirement funds well." "Managing retirement funds well" focuses on retirement wealth planning. In the pension finance section of its mobile banking App, it has created a panoramic retirement account view so clients can see their retirement reserves at a glance, and offers diverse, high-quality pension financial products in the private pension section. "Using retirement funds well" focuses on creating life experiences in retirement scenarios. For example, by integrating wealth management, credit cards, App and other retail systematic services, it continuously enriches retirement benefits around "medical care, food, housing and transportation," and launches selected elderly care community services that are "viewable, visitable and experienceable."
In the enterprise annuity field, China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) carefully formulates diverse investment strategies for different enterprises and employees of different ages based on wealth management demands and risk preferences, promoting solutions such as employees' personal investment choice rights to fully meet clients' diversified investment needs. For enterprises that have suspended annuity contributions and departed employees facing annuity management pain points, it protects client rights through full-process service plans.
Creating a New Model of Retirement Services
In Xishan District, Kunming, the "Xishan Enjoy Retirement · CMB Happiness Community" platform makes "aging at home with nearby services" part of daily life. This smart retirement service system, jointly built by the Xishan District government and China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) Kunming Branch, aligns with the three-tier functions of district-level comprehensive retirement service management platforms, subdistrict regional retirement service centers and community retirement service facility sites, achieving vertical connection, data interoperability and business coordination among the three tiers.
According to reports, the platform connects seven service ecosystems—food, housing, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment and health—and fully leverages China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) fintech advantages, focusing on "six assistance" retirement scenarios of rescue services, domestic services, cleaning assistance, mobility assistance, medical assistance and bathing assistance, providing full-chain services to elderly people, government and elderly care institutions, building a new pattern of digital, scenario-based and inclusive pension finance services.
On the government side, the platform helps subdistricts and communities build digital archives of elderly residents, enabling tiered management of elderly groups, visualization of service data and traceable governance processes, effectively supporting grassroots digital retirement governance. On the institutional side, it provides digital operations, personnel management and ledger statistics tools for health care institutions and community service providers, empowering elderly care enterprises to improve quality and efficiency through "technology + finance" dual empowerment. On the user side, focusing on the needs of elderly residents and their families, it breaks down barriers between retirement life and financial services. Elderly people or their families can use mobile phones to inquire about nearby retirement service sites, book door-to-door care and register for senior courses, with convenient services such as meals, health care and domestic help "within reach."
According to a head of China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) Kunming Branch, since the "Xishan Enjoy Retirement · CMB Happiness Community" project launched, the bank has cultivated community frontlines, focusing on three major scenarios—canteens, classrooms and halls—to truly deliver financial, convenience and cultural services to elderly people's doorsteps. In the canteen scenario, more than 20 community happiness canteens have launched the "CMB E-Meal Connect" smart canteen system, achieving full-process digitization of elderly dining reservations, online payments, subsidy distribution and data statistics. In the classroom scenario, differentiated and precise services are implemented. In communities with existing senior schools, the "Home-School Have CMB" educational administration platform has been launched, with a certain Xishan community registering over 1,000 participants for its 2026 spring and autumn classes; in communities without schools, the "Abundant Life Classroom" has been introduced, offering diverse courses in health science, sports and entertainment, and anti-fraud education, with 42 classes held in the first phase, serving 1,022 residents. In the hall scenario, China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) has upgraded branch outlets into community convenience extension service stations and backup teaching points, holding more than 50 community markets and public welfare convenience activities.
To date, "Happiness Community" has brought in 18 professional home-based elderly care service providers, achieving full coverage of 10 subdistricts and 138 communities in Xishan District, and gradually expanding to Wuhua, Guandu and Panlong districts, with more than 80,000 registered users. It has created a replicable and promotable new retirement service model of government-bank-enterprise-resident coordinated development, a vivid practice and pragmatic result of China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) actively implementing pension finance policy.
Controlling Risk, Managing Returns, Serving Well
The stability of retirement life depends on preserving and growing retirement assets. Through pension management, achieving long-term steady asset appreciation is the core foundation for serving clients' retirement preparation.
In the annuity trustee service field, the bank aims to be a "three-good trustee" that "controls risk well, manages returns well and serves well," building a "platform-based, integrated, multi-strategy" investment research system, focusing on strengthening cross-period asset allocation capability, and striving for "long-term, stable and relatively good" investment performance. In recent years, trustee investment performance has consistently led the market average, with annuity trustee scale growing nearly 20% in the first half compared with the end of last year.
In the private pension wealth management field, China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) leverages its professional advantages in wealth management to apply its "TREE asset allocation service system" to clients' retirement asset preservation and appreciation services. Starting from clients' different life stages, different retirement preparation demands and different risk-return preferences, it provides differentiated asset allocation plans, helping clients achieve steady retirement asset appreciation across different markets and environments through scientific major asset allocation, product selection and portfolio building, and continuous companionship and dynamic rebalancing. Based on this, the bank also became the first in the industry to launch a private pension default investment service, making retirement investment more scientific and worry-free.
"Together, Let's Make Retirement Better"
Doing a good job in the "major article" of pension finance is both a reflection of the political nature and people-centered nature of financial work, and a need to seize silver economy development opportunities and shape new momentum for transformation breakthroughs. China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) treats pension finance as a strategic business for the whole bank, unswervingly adhering to the goal of a "trillion-yuan pension platform," planning and advancing pension finance development from a strategic height.
The China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) 2026 pension finance action plan released early this year proposed further standardizing the bank's pension financial service system and strengthening service capability; at the same time, based on policy direction and market changes, it set out next-stage directions and goals, accelerating the formation of the bank's distinctive and differentiated advantages.
According to a head of the bank's pension finance department, China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) has relatively complete business qualifications and coordinated support from multiple financial licenses, enabling it to better leverage comprehensive financial service advantages in pension finance. CM BANK (ASX: 03968) pension product services simultaneously cover the "three pillars," and it participated early in social security fund and enterprise annuity investment management, with a mature long-term capital investment research system, effectively connecting services, planning, advisory and investment businesses. CMB Wealth Management is among the first batch of domestic pension wealth management pilot institutions, creating the "Nourishing, Enjoying, Worry-Free" pension wealth management product series. CMB-Cigna Life Insurance focuses on health and retirement, providing distinctive risk protection solutions around the four goals of "security in old age, medical care when ill, protection when disabled, and wealth inheritance." These institutions complement China Merchants Bank Co.,Ltd. (ASX: 600036) advantages, better serving clients' retirement health and wealth inheritance.
Specifically, in serving corporate clients, the bank provides comprehensive service solutions through "commercial banking + investment banking." Facing private enterprises' pain points in establishing annuity systems, CM BANK (ASX: 03968) proactively leverages its comprehensive advantages, starting from comprehensive needs such as talent recruitment and retention, compensation and benefits management, investment and financing, and treasury management, combining annuity services with other services to provide targeted comprehensive solutions, letting more employees enjoy supplementary retirement security and supporting the development of the multi-tier, multi-pillar old-age insurance system.
"By establishing an enterprise annuity plan, our appeal to core talent and technical talent has been greatly strengthened," said a head of a small and medium-sized technology enterprise. "The state also matched tax incentive policies, which we hadn't particularly noticed before. CM BANK (ASX: 03968) did a lot of calculations for us, maximizing the value of benefits for the enterprise and employees as much as possible within limited costs."
"We propose the pension finance brand vision of 'Together, Let's Make Retirement Better,' hoping to contribute more CMB value in serving the overall national retirement strategy," the head said.
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