China Merchants Bank is the firm to beat when it comes to digital prowess in the Greater Bay Area, given that it uses technology in nearly every part of its business.
Financial institutions have put more emphasis on digital innovation in the past couple of years to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and the related lockdowns. But CMB, with its headquarters in the key GBA hub of Shenzhen, excels at knowing and understanding where the clients’ pain points are and tailoring solutions to tackle them.
For example, the balance of technology enterprise loans rose 45% year on year, in 2022 to Rmb300 billion ($43 billion). CMB has invested in its fintech offerings to help corporations and businesses digitalize and become more efficient. The same goes for small and micro customers, for whom CMB has a dedicated app that provides them with credit.
For retail clients within the GBA, CMB’s mobile app has proved very popular. Last year, it hit 111 million monthly active users. For wealthy clients, CMB has yet another niche platform that offers everything from investment research and fund positions to data support and algorithmic investment tools, all online. GBA clients are paying attention and pivoting towards CMB. In 2022, CMB’s retail client base reached 184 million, and total assets under management hit Rmb12.12 trillion, up 12.7% year on year.
Thanks to CMB’s presence on the Wealth Management Connect, it had just over 43 million customers holding wealth products (up 14.1% from the previous year). Its balance of retail wealth management products was Rmb2.1 trillion, putting it in first place in the industry.
On the WMC, CMB had opened cross-border wealth management service for close to 5,000 customers by the end of February 2023, and seen Rmb60 million in cross-border remittance.
CMB has taken a mobile-first strategy to promote many of its wealth products, both on the northbound and southbound connect schemes. This has won approval from clients – and so CMB wins the Asiamoney award for best bank for digital in the GBA.