The gross enrollment rate in higher education has reached 60.8%, while the consolidation rate of nine-year compulsory education exceeds 96%. Cross-province direct settlement for medical treatments has benefited 560 million individuals, and average life expectancy has risen to 79 years. Ensuring accessible education, stable employment, comprehensive medical care, elderly support, and adequate housing are critical livelihood priorities impacting millions of households.
Delivering on these essential needs through financial services represents a core focus for financial institutions addressing public expectations. Recently, China Merchants Bank (CMB) released its 2025 Sustainable Development Report, achieving an MSCI ESG rating of AAA. The report outlines the bank’s efforts in providing financial services that address practical public needs.
**Multi-stakeholder Collaboration Strengthens Educational Foundations** Since the reform and opening-up, China’s education system has progressed from addressing basic access to improving quality. The gross enrollment rate in higher education increased from 54.4% in 2020 to over 60%, and the nine-year compulsory education consolidation rate surpassed 96%, achieving balanced development across counties.
These outcomes result from coordinated efforts by education authorities, financial institutions, and other stakeholders. According to CMB’s report, the bank collaborated with 192 education authorities to supervise prepaid course fees, safeguarding payments for 157 million parents by the end of 2025. Additionally, leveraging fintech, CMB provided digital campus services to over 2,400 K-12 schools and more than 2 million parents, supporting educational digitization.
Educational equity and quality are also advanced through daily financial literacy initiatives. “Amid growing financial product complexity and digitalization, youth financial education has gained significance,” a CMB representative noted. The bank conducts seminars in universities covering financial knowledge and fraud prevention, enhancing financial literacy among young people.
**Digital Intelligence Safeguards Wage Security** Protecting workers’ income is fundamental to household welfare. Commercial banks have innovated with tailored financial products and optimized payment services to ensure efficient labor compensation. CMB’s smart union platform has supported 19,300 unions in membership management, benefits, and activities with digital solutions.
The bank has also focused on migrant workers, new urban residents, and sanitation staff, ensuring timely wage payments through dedicated accounts. By the end of 2025, CMB had established 37,505 specialized wage accounts, disbursing 408.843 billion yuan ($56.3B) to 18.902 million workers.
In Xiamen, CMB partnered with local government to pilot electronic wage guarantee letters for construction workers, reducing corporate costs while protecting labor rights.
**Cloud-Based Services Enhance Healthcare Coverage** Forgotten insurance cards and long queues have been eased by “medical insurance codes,” digital IDs issued under the national医保 platform. CMB, an early promoter, introduced one-touch code access via its app, enabling activation, payment, and cross-province medical filings. By end-2025, 37.1411 million codes were activated, serving 23.9014 million users.
CMB also launched “Medical Payment Intelligence,” a digital solution for hospitals covering invoicing, procurement, and staff reimbursement. In Nantong, it assisted with invoice verification for transparent drug procurement; in Wuhan, it improved supply chain traceability for pharmaceuticals.
**Deepening Pension Services for Aging Populations** With China’s population aged 60 and above reaching 323 million (23% of the total) by 2025, serving the silver economy is crucial. CMB has built an integrated system spanning pension finance, retirement services, and elderly care industries.
For the first pension pillar, CMB supported 21 million people with online social security services. For corporate annuities (second pillar), it emphasized risk management and returns. For individual pensions (third pillar), it offered end-to-end services, attracting over 15 million customers by end-2025.
Its “Fengrun Life” program provides lifecycle retirement planning, with 700+ pension products. The app’s senior-friendly version served 2.8883 million users, while branches added aids like magnifiers and vibrating queue tokens.
**Housing Support Anchors Livelihood Security** Housing accessibility remains a key well-being indicator. In 2025, CMB implemented city-specific real estate policies, focusing on rigid and upgraded housing demand, with a mortgage portfolio of 1.4 trillion yuan.
The bank also extended over 10 billion yuan in affordable housing loans across 10+ cities for young people and low-income families. It partnered with 40 housing fund centers to support flexible workers’ housing savings, while digitizing公积金 services for 31 million users.
**Rural Revitalization Through Targeted Assistance** CMB has aided Yongren and Wuding counties in Yunnan since 1999, investing 501 million yuan and sending 83 staff over 27 years. Post-poverty alleviation, it shifted from “blood transfusion” to “blood generation,” enhancing local sustainability.
Initiatives include e-commerce partnerships for agricultural products, educational scholarships, and upgraded healthcare infrastructure. The counties saw a 15% rise in college admission rates in 2025, with improved clinics and elderly care facilities boosting rural well-being.
From a single branch with 34 employees, CMB has grown into a global bank by embedding social responsibility into its services, ensuring finance serves people’s lives.
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