Asiamoney China Private Banking Awards

China Construction Bank is not the first Chinese bank to provide private banking services in China, nor is it the bank with the largest customer base for these services. But it stands out for its performance in expanding its client numbers and their assets under management – both products of efforts to expand the bank’s network and improve services.

Bank of China boasts 36 private banking branches in mainland China, as well as private banking outlets in Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, founded in 1993, has always placed information and data transparency at the heart of its operations. The focus of the lender, headquartered and listed in Shanghai, is to provide high-end services to wealthier, urbanized customers based in China’s leading financial centre.

China Guangfa Bank (CGB), formerly known as Guangdong Development Bank, has always been an innovator. One of the first mainland banks to secure investment from a big foreign competitor, it was an early devotee of the universal principles of data analysis, operational efficiencies and customer service.

Enriching family wealth and passing it on to the next generation is at the heart of China Merchants Bank (CMB) Private Banking offering. It wants to provide professional investment consulting services and unique investment opportunities to high net-worth clients.

Launched just two decades ago, China Minsheng Bank has adopted a different approach to banking from some of its peers, focusing on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and, in recent years, on offering high-quality wealth-management services.

Shanghai-based Guotai Junan Securities offers a full range of services, ranging from investment banking and securities trading to a popular and influential private banking division.

Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) has come a long way in a short period of time. The one-time rural lender has become a lean and well-run domestic banking brand with more than one eye on a greater global presence.

Founded in 1929, Bank of China was the first Chinese financial institution to set up an offshore branch (in London), and the first to expand heavily into Hong Kong – a city where it has more than 300 branches and where its brand is one of three to adorn the retail banknotes.