Since the beginning of the year, in the face of a rigid and complex external environment, the Bank has adhered to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its guiding principle, and resolutely implemented the decisions and plans of the Communist Party of China (“CPC”) Central Committee and the State Council. Driven by carrying out the implementation of the guiding principles of the Central Committee leadership’s Eight-Point Decision and the rectifications following the disciplinary inspection by the CPC Central Committee, the Bank has been committed to the guidance of Party building and advanced the “five transformations”. Effectively playing the role of a leading bank in supporting the sustained recovery and improvement of the economy, the Bank has made solid progress in high-quality development, thereby laying a solid foundation for achieving the annual goals and tasks and successfully concluding the 14th Five-Year Plan.

In the first half of the year, the Group achieved balanced growth in assets and liabilities, with its development resilience strengthened continuously. Total assets exceeded RMB52 trillion, and the scale of loans to customers and due to customers remained the leading position in the industry. The Bank achieved an operating income of RMB409,082 million, recording a growth of 1.8%, and a net profit of RMB168,803 million. The annualised return on average total assets and the annualised return on weighted average equity were 0.67% and 8.82%, respectively. The NPL ratio was 1.33%, down 0.01 percentage points. The capital adequacy ratio was 19.54%, and the allowance to NPLs was 217.71%, up 0.15 and 2.80 percentage points, respectively, further consolidating the foundation for prudent operations.

Focusing on supporting the “Four Stabilities” to improve and expand services to the real economy. The Bank proactively aligned with both existing and incremental policies. RMB denominated loans of domestic branches increased by RMB1.78 trillion, and RMB denominated bond investments grew by RMB1.23 trillion. The Bank underwrote the first batch of equity investment institutions’ sci-tech innovation bonds, with the pilot business scale of AIC equity investment leading the industry. The Bank highlighted its major responsibilities and core businesses in “industry” and its professional characteristics in “commerce”, well conducted financial work in the “Five Priorities”, and intensified support for major national economic strategies, key fields and weak links, achieving higher loan growth rates in manufacturing, sci-tech innovation, green development, and inclusive small and micro enterprises than the average. International trade finance of domestic branches rose by 35.4%, and international settlement volume increased by 18.5%, helping stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and foreign investment. The Bank actively boosted consumption, safeguarded people’s livelihoods, and strengthened consumer protection, with personal consumption loans increasing by 10.2%.

Strengthening the security defense line, with all kinds of risks remaining generally under control. In coordinating development and security, the Bank followed the path of “active prevention, smart control and comprehensive management” to firmly safeguard the bottom line of preventing systemic risks. It enhanced the enterprise risk management system, strengthened the control by the Risk Management and Internal Control Committee and the duty performance by risk officers, and further enhanced the bonding force of the “three lines of defense”. The Bank prudently supported risk mitigation in key areas such as real estate and local government debts, and established an integrated disposal and collection system for retail and inclusive loans, to maintain stable asset quality. The Bank placed equal emphasis on the construction and application of the intelligent risk control platform, strengthened cross-market and cross-area risk transmission monitoring and warning, and properly coped with the impact of external shocks such as global financial market fluctuations. The Bank stayed vigilant in its own safe operations and actively provided financial services for flood fighting and rescue, earthquake relief and disaster response, making every effort to safeguard the lives and property of customers and employees.

Accelerating reform and innovation to continuously unleash development momentum. The Bank strengthened the “three traditional pillars” of industry and commerce, retail banking, and technology, and meanwhile actively expanded presence in “new tracks” such as new financial infrastructure, new businesses, and new quality productive forces. It supported the prudent advancement of RMB internationalization with cross-border RMB business exceeding RMB5 trillion. The Bank continued to advance the GBC+ projects, implemented the mechanism of “allocating the land on the household basis and assessing it by household” in details, and further improved the ecosystem of “large, medium, small and micro enterprises and personal customers”. The balance of RMB deposits exceeded RMB35 trillion, up RMB1.92 trillion over the beginning of the year. The Bank streamlined and optimized the performance assessment indicator system, further enhancing operating capabilities across business segments. It accelerated the construction of D-ICBC, and launched the “AI+” Action Plan, with new technologies such as AI large models being applied in over 100 scenarios.