China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) (stock code: SH:601939 and HK: 939) announced its operating results for 2019,which showed that, as at the end of the year, the group’s total assets reached RMB25.44 trillion – up 9.53% from the previous year. Loans and advances totalled RMB14.54 trillion, up 8.79%. Total liabilities reached RMB23.20 trillion, up 9.28%, including deposits of RMB18.37 trillion, up 7.35%. The bank saw good growth momentum in profits, with key indicators showing positive moves. It realized a net profit of RMB269.22 billion, up 5.32%, or 0.39 pps, from a year earlier. Net interest income rose by 5.02%, and net interest margin was 2.26%. Net fee and commission income increased by 11.58%. The return on average assets stood at 1.11%, the weighted average return on equity was 13.18%, and the capital adequacy ratio was 17.52%, maintaining a leading position in the industry.
In 2019, CCB continued to innovate and made great efforts to promote the implementation of its strategies, drive business and improve operating performance across the bank by proactively identifying, adapting to and pursuing opportunities arising from changes in the economic environment. Based on the “three capabilities” of serving the country’s construction, preventing financial risks and participating in international competition, the bank launch edits “second curve”. This targeted government, business and consumer communities by leveraging the “three major strategies” of house rental, inclusive finance and fintech so as to meet economic and social development needs, promote financial supply-side structural reforms, drive high-quality economic growth, and promote high-quality business development of the bank, so as to achieve good economic and social benefits.
Enhancing the “three capabilities” to serve the real economy The bank continued to support key national strategic projects, and proactively served the regional development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and Yangtze River Delta. It made efforts to accelerate financial supply-side stock restructuring, increment optimization and economic momentum shift.
Enhanced capability in preventing financial risks CCB continued to improve its risk management system – highlighting comprehensiveness, proactivity and intelligence – boosted the construction and optimization of the risk management IT system by strengthening digital, intelligent and intensive risk management and control, and further intensified credit risk management. As a result, asset quality remained stable and improved, and the ability to compensate risks was also gradually enhanced.
Enhanced capability in international competition The bank further improved its overseas presence. With the successful opening of branches in Astana, Kazakhstan and Labuan, Malaysia it now operates in 30 countries and regions around the world, with the RMB clearing banking services in the UK, Switzerland and Chile operating steadily. The “one policy for one bank” principle facilitated the compliant and sound development of its overseas operations. Greater efforts were made to support the Belt and Road Initiative by providing financing support for more than 150 major projects in countries along the Belt and Road.
Supporting social development by promoting the three major strategies – expanding ‘chain reaction’ in the house rental business By forming the House Rental Industrial Alliance, CCB improved the leasing experience for people through mass allocation and specialized services and built a new house rental ecosystem that was open, pro-sharing and efficient. By connecting individual house rental platforms, the bank created a network that had more than 20 million property listings online.
Advancing inclusive finance through sophisticated platforms The bank adhered to its platform-based operations, continued to explore new, smart and eco-friendly models for inclusive finance, and fully improved the coverage, availability and client satisfaction of inclusive finance services.
Greater effectiveness powered by fintech With a consolidated fintech foundation, the bank actively promoted the development of fintech-based platforms such as AI, blockchain and IoT. Internally, it developed evolving smart financial solutions to enhance digital operation and management capabilities. Leveraging the advantages of the New Generation core banking systems, it developed a unified view of enterprise-level customers, stepped up to create integrated smart channels with multiple contact points, and launched its “5G+ smart banking” service.