CITIC Bank has upgraded its technological capabilities to a new level, according to Chairman Fang Heying's statement in the 2025 annual report. Facing the global wave of fintech transformation, the bank has persistently focused on both fundamental technological breakthroughs and long-term value creation.
The annual report outlines that CITIC Bank is firmly advancing its strategy of becoming a technology-driven institution, emphasizing innovation, business leadership, and deep integration of business and technology. The bank is progressing through informatization, datafication, and intelligentization to build a leading digital bank and establish new competitive advantages.
In 2025, CITIC Bank's investment in information technology reached 9.641 billion yuan, a decrease of 11.91% year-on-year, accounting for 4.54% of its total operating revenue. The bank obtained 496 patent authorizations, an increase of 36.26% from the previous year. By the end of 2025, CITIC Bank employed 5,807 technology personnel, representing 8.79% of its total workforce.
The bank first defined its strategic direction of "driving business transformation through digitalization" in 2019. Subsequent organizational optimizations led to the establishment of a "one department, three centers" fintech structure in 2021, comprising the Information Technology Management Department, Software Development Center, Big Data Center, and Technology Operations Center.
Recently, CITIC Bank completed a reorganization of its fintech division, involving department renaming, personnel integration, and the establishment of new units. Specific details are as follows:
The Information Technology Management Department has been renamed the "Financial Technology Department." As the coordinating body for technology functions, this department is responsible for the top-level design of the bank's digital construction. Liu Liangjun remains the head of the department. With extensive experience in CITIC Bank's technology division, Liu has previously served as Deputy General Manager of the Information Technology Management Department, General Manager of the Software Development Center, General Manager of the Big Data Center, and General Manager of the Information Technology Management Department.
Personnel from the former Big Data Center have been fully integrated into the Software Development Center. This move aims to consolidate technical research capabilities and optimize resource allocation. The Software Development Center, as a core component of the bank's technology division, has achieved significant results in proprietary core technology and R&D efficiency. In 2020, the center successfully implemented the "Lingyun Project," migrating the bank's core business system from a traditional closed host to an open distributed platform using the GoldenDB database developed jointly with ZTE. This made CITIC Bank one of the first large and medium-sized Chinese banks to complete a distributed architecture transformation for its core business system.
A new "Data Management Center" has been established to lead the bank's data governance and data application efforts. Data management involves cross-functional coordination, requiring collaboration from business departments for implementing data standards, standardizing master data governance, and rectifying data quality issues. It is reported that CITIC Bank plans to appoint a leader with experience in managing major internal projects to head this department, though specific personnel arrangements have not yet been announced.
Additionally, the Data Management Office of the Head Office's Financial Accounting Department has been merged into the newly established Data Management Center. This office, established in 2018 under the direction of then Deputy President Fang Heying, is known for its efficient team, solid work ethic, and strong professional capabilities. Its initiatives, including 100% compliance with data standards for new systems and a head office-branch collaborative mechanism for monitoring and rectifying data quality issues, are considered leading practices in the industry. In August 2025, CITIC Bank received the highest level of DCMM (Data Management Capability Maturity Model) certification, becoming the fourth bank and the first joint-stock bank in China to achieve this rating.
Following these adjustments, CITIC Bank's technology division now operates under a "three centers" structure coordinated by the Financial Technology Department, reflecting an evolution in the technology function's role from technical support to financial empowerment. At the decision-making level, a Digital Transformation Committee oversees the implementation of the digital finance strategy.
During the 2025 results presentation, CITIC Bank's management stated that from underlying architecture upgrades to business scenario integration, and from individual technological breakthroughs to systemic capability output, the bank is driving comprehensive operational transformation through technological innovation while contributing to the digital and intelligent development of China's banking industry.
The annual report emphasizes that CITIC Bank consistently focuses on technology empowerment and innovation as core drivers, fully enabling business development to become a top-tier technology-driven bank.
Enhancing application empowerment has led to greater release of digital value. The bank has comprehensively improved digital capabilities across management, operations, and business domains, establishing end-to-end data capabilities and achieving a range of intelligent digital applications with strong demonstration effects, high comprehensive benefits, and significant growth potential.
In corporate banking, key projects such as Tianyuan Treasury, corporate digital marketing platforms, and smart online banking have been launched. The "Galaxy Project" has reconstructed an end-to-end digital service system. In retail banking, upgrades to the retail business strategy management platform have enabled the monthly deployment of over 2,300 strategies, serving 35.5 million retail customers monthly, with key products contributing over 60% to sales and AUM growth. In financial markets, automation and intelligent upgrades have achieved an overall transaction automation rate of 83%, and the application of AI large models in quantitative strategy development has tripled R&D efficiency.
Notably, the "Galaxy Project" is CITIC Bank's largest system cluster construction initiative. Successfully launched and operating stably in 2025, it has reshaped end-to-end business processes in corporate credit and achieved breakthroughs in core technologies, involving the reconstruction of three core systems, optimization of seven systems, and upgrades to 120 supporting systems.
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