At the 2026 annual work conferences, what new high-frequency directives emerged from the six major state-owned banks?
At the beginning of 2026, the six major state-owned commercial banks—Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China—successively convened their annual operational and management meetings. As the inaugural year of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, these critical meetings not only set the annual agenda but were also viewed as a collective articulation of the major banks' future development trajectories. An analysis reveals that, compared to previous years, the 2026 work conferences exhibited a stronger degree of alignment among the six banks: on one hand, almost all six institutions replaced the term "digitalization" with "digital-intelligentization" in their statements, deeply integrating artificial intelligence with management operations, business processes, and service systems; on the other hand, high-quality service was systematically elevated to a key annual focus; simultaneously, against the backdrop of pressured net interest margins, "cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency gains" became a high-frequency phrase, while "differentiated development," "specialized positioning," and "establishing a correct outlook on performance" were also repeatedly emphasized by multiple banks. These recurring keywords sketch out a common directional shift for the major state-owned banks in this new phase of development: a move from prioritizing scale to emphasizing quality, from technological tool upgrades to systemic restructuring, and from short-term metric evaluations towards a more robust and sustainable development logic. The six major banks are using a set of increasingly consistent, yet individually nuanced, answers to set the tone for the financial landscape of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. "Digitalization" Upgraded to "Digital-Intelligentization": AI Explosion Reshapes Core Competitiveness Through Intelligent Financial Integration Since the concept of "digital finance" was first introduced at the Central Financial Work Conference in October 2023, terms like "digital empowerment" and "digitalization empowerment" began to appear frequently in the annual work conferences of the six major banks. However, this concept underwent a morphological change in 2026—"digital-intelligentization" empowerment. The shift from "digitalization" to "digital-intelligentization," a change of just one character, reflects the major state-owned banks' adaptation to the rapid development and iteration of AI: 2025 can be termed a year of AI explosion, marked by the强势崛起 of "Deepseek" during the Spring Festival and the rapid breakout of AI agents like Grok and Claude... AI is increasingly integrating into daily life. Against this backdrop, the major state-owned banks—ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China—also began to classify "digital-intelligentization" as a new development focus. In 2025, ICBC's work conference stated the need to "build a more convenient digital ICBC (D-ICBC) system and construct a more adaptable management system"; by 2026, this had changed to "upgrade and build a digital-intelligent ICBC, enhancing digital-intelligent momentum." In its 2025 work conference, while summarizing 2024 achievements, Agricultural Bank of China mentioned—"reforms and innovations in digital-intelligentization and intensification accelerated, with the formulation and implementation of an 'AI+' innovation implementation outline, and a good start was made in building a smart bank"; by the 2026 work conference, it further stated that in 2025, "smart bank construction progressed steadily, digital-intelligent service levels continuously improved, and good results were achieved in reducing burdens and empowering grassroots units." Other banks mentioning digital-intelligentization in their 2026 operational management conferences included China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China. For instance, China Construction Bank emphasized "focusing on building a leading bank in tech finance, solidly advancing digital-intelligent transformation, and continuously improving the quality and efficiency of serving the real economy"; Bank of Communications required "deeply promoting the 'AI+' initiative, strengthening digital-intelligent thinking, deepening practical application, using AI technology to重构 business processes and innovate service models, further supporting management decisions, empowering frontline development, and promoting value creation"; Postal Savings Bank of China incorporated digital-intelligentization as one of its "Six Upgrades" strategy. The push towards intelligent development signifies more than just a technological upgrade; it represents a reshaping of the banks' core competitiveness. A KPMG report indicated that the banking sector will continue to increase investment in frontier technologies like artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing. AI will deeply penetrate core business segments such as risk modeling, customer profiling, precision marketing, automated operations, and intelligent customer service, significantly enhancing operational efficiency and the foresight and precision of risk identification. ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Construction Bank Place High Importance on "Service" In their 2026 annual work conferences, the major state-owned banks elevated the importance of service quality to a new height in their work arrangements for the coming year. For example, ICBC explicitly proposed to "enhance the value of high-quality service, creating a new ecosystem of共生共赢—deepening comprehensive financial solutions, and improving integrated services that grow alongside customers"; Agricultural Bank of China emphasized "adhering to customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction as standards, deepening reforms and innovations in key areas—deeply advancing the construction of a smart bank, accelerating the scaled and inclusive application of artificial intelligence. Deepening集约经营 reform, better reducing burdens and empowering grassroots units. Strengthening refined customer service, continuously improving service efficiency and customer experience"; Similarly, China Construction Bank pointed out in its 2026 annual conference the need to "take meeting the people's aspirations for a better life as the starting point and落脚点 of 'Construction' services, allowing the glorious tradition of 'born from construction, thriving through construction' to radiate contemporary brilliance." In the past, the service focus of major state-owned banks often lay in coverage scope and inclusivity. Now, having achieved broad coverage of basic financial services, quality and experience have become the new competitive battlegrounds. The service upgrade among the six major banks, shifting from inclusive coverage to quality enhancement and from breadth expansion to depth management, is redefining the way value is created in the banking sector. Cost Reduction, Quality Improvement, and Cost Control Become High-Frequency Terms Unlike the 2025 annual work conferences, "cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency gains" became a high-frequency term in the 2026 conferences of many major state-owned banks. ICBC listed "enhancing the quality and effectiveness of high-efficiency reforms, stimulating new vitality for innovation and creation" as one of its six key work deployments, pointing out the need to implement the requirements of "focusing on core business, improving governance, and differentiated development," persist in honing internal strengths, ensure the落地 of reform measures, and deepen "cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency gains." Agricultural Bank of China proposed "deeply promoting quality improvement, cost reduction, and efficiency gains to promote steady growth in operating profits"; Bank of China required "seeking progress while maintaining stability in operations and development, improving quality and efficiency, coordinating and promoting the high-quality development of various businesses, and enhancing core competitiveness and service capabilities"; Bank of Communications emphasized "focusing on cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency gains," while Postal Savings Bank of China aimed to fight the tough battle of "improving cost control." Behind this consensus lies a profound change in the banking industry's operating environment. The advancement of interest rate liberalization continues to compress traditional net interest margin空间, intensified competition in the banking sector increases profit pressure, and the development of fintech highlights the higher costs associated with traditional operational models. "The core reason multiple banks are focusing on cost reduction and efficiency gains is an active adjustment to cope with pressure on industry profit growth and changes in the operating environment," said Yuan Shuai, Deputy Director of the Investment Department at the China Urban Development Institute. He believes that, on one hand, with the progress of interest rate liberalization and intensified banking competition, traditional interest spread空间 continues to narrow, necessitating cost reduction and efficiency gains to maintain profit levels; on the other hand, the前期投入 in digital-intelligent construction has led to a阶段性 rise in costs, requiring balanced input and output through refined operations. Greater Emphasis on Differentiation: Bank of China and Bank of Communications Mention "Differentiated Development," Postal Savings Bank Aims for "Second Growth Curve" Equally notable is the increasingly distinct differentiated development paths of each bank. In the 2026 work conferences, terms like "differentiated development" and "specialization" appeared with unusual frequency, indicating that state-owned banks, traditionally known for balanced business development, are actively trying to break away from homogeneous competition. Bank of China explicitly stated the need to "persist in focusing on core business, improving governance, and differentiated development," while Bank of Communications emphasized "creating characteristics based on local conditions, pursuing differentiated development, and enhancing the systematic supply capacity for the 'Five Key Financial Tasks'." ICBC proposed adhering to the "Five Transformations," proactively对接 a package of policies, and playing a leading role in serving the construction of a modern industrial system and aiding the accelerated formation of a new development pattern; Agricultural Bank of China consistently prioritized serving "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers" as its most important task, fully supporting comprehensive rural revitalization and integrated urban-rural development, clearly stating "focus on primary responsibilities and core businesses, continuously tilting financial resources towards counties and rural areas." The China Construction Bank conference noted that the bank was born from national economic construction and thrives through economic development; the entire bank should shift the service focus of "Construction" towards supporting the building of a modern industrial system, advancing new industrialization, developing new quality productive forces, building a strong domestic market, expanding high-level opening-up, promoting urban-rural integration and regional coordinated development, and constructing a financial powerhouse, allowing the glorious tradition of "born from construction, thriving through construction" to radiate contemporary brilliance. Bank of China's特色 is reflected in its global layout, explicitly stating the need to "consolidate and expand global advantages," continuously enhancing seven global capabilities including global layout capability, global product and service capability, and cross-border RMB business capability; Postal Savings Bank of China's differentiated path is more systematic, proposing a comprehensive advancement of the "Six Upgrades"—specialization, light-asset transformation, comprehensiveness, ecosystem-building, refinement, and digital-intelligentization—and aiming to create a "second growth curve" through dual-track parallel development and integrated growth, transitioning from scale-driven to value-driven growth. Behind the differentiation strategy lies the banking industry's consensus on "anti-involution." In an environment of progressing interest rate liberalization and continuously narrowing interest spreads, homogeneous competition is no longer sustainable. Through differentiated development, each bank can focus more on its most competitive areas, achieving optimal resource allocation. It is worth noting that whether it is ICBC's focus on building a modern industrial system, Agricultural Bank of China's support for rural revitalization, or Bank of China's global layout, all represent active responses to national development strategies. Five Major Banks Mention Establishing a Correct Outlook on Performance for the First Time In the 2025 work conferences of the major state-owned banks, the term "outlook on performance" was rarely mentioned; by the 2026 conferences, "establishing a correct outlook on performance" had notably become an important topic in the work conferences of several major banks. For example, ICBC emphasized, "firmly establish and practice a correct outlook on performance, adhere to 'achieving performance for the people and through hard work,' consciously follow objective laws, base efforts on reality, work solidly, and strive for实效, promoting high-quality and sustainable development." Agricultural Bank of China was a rare case among state-owned banks, listing "establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance" as one of its key ideological and operational work arrangements for 2026, stating the need to "firmly grasp the political and people-oriented nature of financial work, strengthen education on the correct outlook on performance, persist in proceeding from reality and following objective laws, ensuring what must be done is done, what can be done is strived for, and what should not be done is坚决不为, consciously achieving performance for the people and through hard work," indicating a high level of importance. Bank of China required "to establish and practice a correct outlook on performance. Practice the political and people-oriented nature of financial work, resolving the question of 'for whom is performance achieved'; adhere to correct views on operations,业绩, and risk, resolving the question of 'what kind of performance to achieve'"; China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications similarly stated the need to "firmly establish and practice a correct outlook on performance,坚持因地因事制宜, consciously follow objective laws, work down-to-earth and扎实," and "firmly establish and practice a correct outlook on performance, enhance the political功能 and organizational功能 of Party organizations." Establishing a correct outlook on performance is a microcosm of the banking sector's "prudent and cautious" development. The People's Bank of China once stated in a People's Daily article that the financial industry should establish correct views on operations, performance, and risk, considering both the present and the long term, not贪图 short-term gains, not acting急躁冒进, not taking excessive risks beyond承受能力, and adhering to prudent and cautious operation.
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