In less than a year, the president of the 9.9 trillion yuan CITIC Bank (601998.SH, 0998.HK) has changed jobs.
On December 30, CITIC Bank announced that Lu Wei resigned from his positions as the bank's Executive Director, President, Chairman and Member of the Board's Risk Management Committee, and Member of the Board's Strategy and Sustainable Development Committee due to work adjustments; it was simultaneously announced that Chairman Fang Heying will temporarily assume the president's duties.
Lu Wei had a 26-year career at CITIC Bank, progressing through several key roles. He was officially approved as President of CITIC Bank in April 2025, with his original term set to expire on April 20, 2028, yet he resigned after only 8 months in the position. Lu Wei's resignation was not entirely unexpected. On the evening of December 26, Postal Savings Bank (601658.SH) had already announced the appointment of Lu Wei as its President.
Behind these personnel changes, CITIC Bank is navigating a series of operational challenges. In terms of performance, for the first three quarters of 2025, CITIC Bank saw increased profits but not revenue; operating income was 156.598 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.46%, while net profit attributable to the parent company's shareholders was 53.391 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.02%.
Behind this report card showing "profit resilience," the effectiveness of CITIC Bank's cost control measures is evident. Operating expenses for the first three quarters fell to 91.179 billion yuan, down 8.57% year-on-year, including business and management expenses of 44.753 billion yuan, down 4.17% year-on-year; credit impairment losses were 44.714 billion yuan, down 12.91% year-on-year. Concurrently, the bank faces multiple tests including pressure on net interest margins, a decline in non-interest income, and challenges in its retail business. Can Chairman Fang Heying, now shouldering the president's role, lead CITIC Bank into a new phase of development?
Veteran Lu Wei Departs Less Than a Year After Return; Chairman Fang Heying Steps In as Acting President
Judging by his resume, the departing Lu Wei is an executive who grew up within the CITIC Bank system.
Born in October 1971, Lu Wei holds a master's degree in accounting from Australia's Deakin University. Since joining CITIC Bank in 1997, he has gained experience in several key departments including the Head Office Business Department, Planning and Finance Department, and Assets and Liabilities Department, building a deep 25-year tenure. Between 2017 and 2022, Lu Wei successively held the positions of Board Secretary, Business Director, and Vice President at CITIC Bank.
In 2022, Lu Wei was transferred to CITIC Trust as Party Committee Secretary; in March 2023, he became General Manager of CITIC Trust. At that time, CITIC Trust's operations were facing a dual decline in revenue and net profit. For 2022 and 2023, revenues were 6.438 billion yuan and 4.976 billion yuan, down 25% and 22.71% year-on-year respectively; net profits were 3.016 billion yuan and 2.628 billion yuan, down 13.88% and 12.85% year-on-year respectively.
In May 2024, Lu Wei became Chairman of CITIC Trust, leading the company to achieve a performance breakthrough. According to unaudited financial data from trust companies, in 2024, CITIC Trust's revenue was 5.379 billion yuan, up 8.09% year-on-year, ranking first among 51 institutions in revenue level; annual net profit was 2.653 billion yuan, up 0.95% year-on-year.
By February 2025, following the resignation of CITIC Bank's former President Liu Cheng due to work adjustments, Lu Wei returned to CITIC Bank and took up the mantle of President; he was formally approved for the president role in April. However, in less than a year, Lu Wei has turned to join Postal Savings Bank.
CITIC Bank's announcement mentioned that since assuming the roles of Executive Director and President, Lu Wei had led the senior management team in actively implementing national development strategies, deeply advancing the construction of the "Five Leading" bank, continuously strengthening risk and compliance control, effectively enhancing the quality and efficiency of financial management, and driving the bank to achieve positive results in serving the real economy, enhancing comprehensive competitiveness, and realizing high-quality development.
Yuan Shuai, Deputy Secretary-General of the Zhongguancun IoT Industry Alliance and Co-founder of the Xinzhipai New Quality Productivity Salon, stated, "From the perspective of conventional practices in the banking industry, work adjustments may involve internal strategic restructuring or changes in personal career plans, but the specific reasons need to be analyzed in conjunction with CITIC Bank's recent strategic moves. For CITIC Bank, another short-term change in the president position may raise market concerns about the stability of the management team, especially against the backdrop of intensifying banking competition and accelerated digital transformation. Frequent management adjustments could impact the pace of business advancement, such as the continuity of retail business transformation or risk management policies."
Fang Heying, who is assuming the acting duties, is no stranger to the president role, having served as President of CITIC Bank before his promotion to Chairman, making him another veteran of CITIC Bank.
Information shows that Fang Heying was born in 1966, graduated from Hunan College of Finance and Economics (now Hunan University), holds an Executive MBA from Peking University, is a senior economist, and has thirty years of experience in the banking industry.
Fang Heying joined CITIC Bank in 1996, one year earlier than Lu Wei. Starting as a Section Chief in the Credit Department of the Hangzhou Branch, he successively held positions as Assistant President and Vice President from 2003, was transferred to become President of the Suzhou Branch in 2007, entered the head office in 2013 as Financial Markets Business Director while concurrently serving as President of the Hangzhou Branch, and was promoted to Vice President of the head office in 2014. From March 2019 to April 2023, Fang Heying served as President of CITIC Bank; in June 2021, he became Vice Chairman of CITIC Bank, and from August 2023 to the present, he has served as Chairman of CITIC Bank.
Looking at the management team, since 2016, CITIC Bank has had three chairmen over 10 years, sequentially Li Qingping, Zhu Hexin, and Fang Heying; and four presidents, sequentially Sun Deshun, Fang Heying, Liu Cheng, and Lu Wei. Now, Fang Heying will once again act as president.
Yu Fenghui, a specially invited researcher at the China Financial Think Tank, commented, "Chairman Fang Heying temporarily performing the president's duties helps maintain the stability of the management team and ensures daily operations are unaffected. On one hand, this arrangement leverages the experience and stability of the existing leadership to mitigate uncertainty during the transition; on the other hand, it may also lead to improved decision-making efficiency. However, in the long run, dual responsibilities for a single leader could increase the workload and potentially divert attention from other business areas."
It is worth noting that according to the "Measures for the Implementation of Administrative Licensing Matters for Chinese-funded Commercial Banks" (revised by CBIRC Order No. 5, 2022), when a Chinese-funded commercial bank designates a person meeting the corresponding qualification conditions to act as chairman or president, the acting period shall not exceed 6 months. Who will ultimately fill the president position at CITIC Bank remains a suspense.
Beyond the change in president, the team of vice presidents at CITIC Bank has also seen relatively frequent changes, with "three additions and two departures" since 2024.
Specifically, in April 2024, CITIC Bank Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Wang Kang resigned due to work adjustments, later becoming Vice President of The Export-Import Bank of China; in May 2024, CITIC Bank appointed He Jinsong as Vice President; in September 2024, CITIC Bank appointed Gu Lingyun as Vice President; then in March of this year, Vice President Lü Tiangui resigned; in August of this year, Jin Xinian was approved as Vice President.
Currently, the senior management team led by Fang Heying consists of five vice presidents: Hu Gang, Xie Zhibin, Gu Lingyun, He Jinsong, and Jin Xinian; additionally, Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary Xiao Huan, Business Director Lu Jingen, and Board Secretary Zhang Qing are also on CITIC Bank's list of senior executives.
Profit Growth Outpaces Revenue in First Three Quarters; Credit Card Loan Balance Shrinks by 23.8 Billion Yuan
CITIC Bank, established in April 1987, is the nation's second joint-stock bank, founded just days after the first, China Merchants Bank. After its establishment, the bank continuously accumulated experience and gradually made its mark in the financial markets. Twenty years later, in April 2007, CITIC Bank was listed simultaneously on A-shares and H-shares.
As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, CITIC Bank's total assets were 9.9 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.83% from the end of 2024; total loans and advances were 5.78 trillion yuan, up 1.09% from the end of 2024; total customer deposits were 5.78 trillion yuan, up 5% from the end of 2024.
For the first three quarters of 2025, CITIC Bank's operating income was 156.598 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.46%, while net profit attributable to the parent company's shareholders was 53.391 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.02%. Looking at the third quarter alone, operating income was 50.836 billion yuan, down 4.43% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent company's shareholders was 16.913 billion yuan, up 3.53% year-on-year.
The situation of profit growth outpacing revenue growth typically reflects effective bank measures in cost control. In the first three quarters, CITIC Bank's operating expenses decreased to 91.179 billion yuan, down 8.57% year-on-year, including business and management expenses of 44.753 billion yuan, down 4.17% year-on-year; the cost-to-income ratio was 28.58%, down 0.21 percentage points year-on-year.
Furthermore, CITIC Bank's credit impairment losses were 44.714 billion yuan, a decrease of 6.629 billion yuan compared to the same period in 2024, down 12.91% year-on-year. This resulted in an operating profit of 65.419 billion yuan for CITIC Bank in the first three quarters of 2025, an increase of 2.935 billion yuan year-on-year, up 4.7%, which is the main reason for the profit growth despite the revenue decline.
The decline on the revenue side stems from a dual squeeze. On one hand, net interest income, as the main revenue driver, was affected by industry-wide interest rate declines, falling 2.06% year-on-year to 107.7 billion yuan in the first three quarters. The net interest margin narrowed by 0.16 percentage points year-on-year to 1.63%, the largest decline among the 9 A-share listed joint-stock banks.
Yu Fenghui believes, "To stabilize the net interest margin, CITIC Bank can take the following measures: first, further optimize asset allocation, increasing investment in higher-yielding assets; second, strengthen the development of intermediary businesses, such as wealth management and custody services, to boost non-interest income; third, continuously monitor market dynamics and flexibly adjust pricing strategies to address challenges brought by interest rate liberalization. At the same time, deepening the application of financial technology to improve operational efficiency and service quality is also an important means to stabilize the net interest margin."
On the other hand, non-interest income decreased by 6.4% year-on-year to 48.9 billion yuan. However, the core intermediary business, net fee and commission income, reached 25.688 billion yuan, up 5.75% year-on-year, indicating that the decline was dragged down by other non-interest income. For example, in the first three quarters of 2025, CITIC Bank's investment income decreased by 217 million yuan year-on-year to 21.827 billion yuan, and net gains/losses from changes in fair value turned from positive to negative year-on-year, decreasing by 5.87 billion yuan to -2.134 billion yuan.
In terms of asset quality, as of the end of the third quarter of 2025, CITIC Bank's non-performing loan balance was 66.939 billion yuan, an increase of 454 million yuan from the end of 2024; the non-performing loan ratio was 1.16%, unchanged from the end of 2024; the provision coverage ratio was 204.16%, down 5.27 percentage points from the end of the previous year; the loan provision ratio was 2.36%, down 0.07 percentage points from the end of the previous year.
Looking at specific businesses, CITIC Bank is experiencing the "growing pains" of retail transformation.
In 2014, CITIC Bank officially launched its second retail strategy transformation. Over the following decade, it continuously upgraded and optimized its retail strategy, proposing the "Retail First Strategy" at its 2021 annual results presentation. In the years since, this business segment achieved revenue growth, but pre-tax profit declined year after year.
Data shows that from 2021 to 2024, CITIC Bank's retail banking business revenue was 82.563 billion yuan, 84.664 billion yuan, 84.624 billion yuan, and 85.679 billion yuan respectively, accounting for around 40% of total operating income each year; pre-tax profits were 22.7 billion yuan, 17.38 billion yuan, 15.935 billion yuan, and 9.23 billion yuan respectively, with year-on-year changes of 16.9%, -23.45%, -8.31%, and -42.08%.
The stagnation in retail business is closely related to the performance of the credit card business. As of the end of 2024, CITIC Bank had cumulatively issued 123 million cards, an increase of 6.68% from the end of 2023; but looking separately, the number of cards issued by CITIC Bank in 2024 was 7.717 million, 1.201 million fewer than in 2023; as of the end of 2024, CITIC Bank's credit card loan balance was 487.88 billion yuan, a decrease of 32.81 billion yuan year-on-year.
Furthermore, the transaction volume of CITIC Bank credit cards has shown a consecutive declining trend. From 2022 to 2024, the bank's credit card transaction volume was 2.79 trillion yuan, 2.71 trillion yuan, and 2.44 trillion yuan respectively, with year-on-year changes of 0.44%, -2.73%, and -9.96% respectively. The contraction in multiple key indicators led to a credit card business revenue of 55.91 billion yuan for CITIC Bank in 2024, down 5.91% year-on-year.
In the first three quarters of 2025, CITIC Bank's credit card loan balance was 464.92 billion yuan, a decrease of 23.796 billion yuan from the end of 2024, down 4.87%. However, looking at the third quarter alone in 2025, the bank's online credit card transaction volume increased by 11.47% quarter-on-quarter, and the credit card loan balance increased by 5.805 billion yuan compared to the end of the second quarter.
Additionally, CITIC Bank's credit card business has been frequently complained about due to issues such as annual fee disputes, high interest rates, harassing marketing calls, and aggressive debt collection. As of December 31, 2025, searching for "CITIC Bank credit card" on the Hei Mao Tou Su platform revealed over 26,000 related complaints.
Regarding this, Liao Hekai, an analyst at Jinle Function, suggested that CITIC Bank should optimize its collection processes, introduce compliant third-party agencies, strengthen customer service, and provide flexible, personalized deferred repayment plans; by utilizing intelligent risk control systems and multi-layered security protection mechanisms, it can effectively enhance risk identification capabilities, reduce abnormal transactions, and improve loan recovery efficiency.
Against the backdrop of increasingly fierce industry competition, do you think Chairman Fang Heying, acting as president, can lead CITIC Bank to seek breakthroughs amidst stability within six months? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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