Bank of Communications held its 2025 interim results briefing on August 29th. Zhang Baojiang, Vice Chairman, Executive Director, and President of Bank of Communications, stated that China's economy continues its steady and progressive momentum, and the bank will fulfill its responsibilities as a major state-owned bank by leveraging its resource endowments to build distinctive advantages and achieve high-quality development while serving national strategies.

Zhang Baojiang noted that China's economy demonstrated a "steady progress with positive momentum" in the first half of the year, with GDP achieving 5.3% growth, exceeding expectations and making new progress in high-quality development.

"The banking industry currently maintains adequate capital, stable operations, and strong risk prevention capabilities, and will continue to maintain good operational capacity and risk resilience," Zhang emphasized. This economic momentum provides solid support for financial industry operations, and Bank of Communications, as a state-owned financial enterprise, will earnestly implement central economic work arrangements and achieve its own development through high-quality service to national strategies.

Regarding how to build the bank's distinctive characteristics, Zhang outlined five key strategic directions, clarifying Bank of Communications' strategic path for the next phase.

In implementing the deployment of the Central Financial Work Conference, Bank of Communications will steadfastly advance the "five major articles" of technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance, and digital finance. Technology finance will focus on key areas and address bottlenecks; green finance will adhere to the principle of breaking before establishing and seizing opportunities; inclusive finance will prioritize serving people's livelihoods and expanding coverage; pension finance will improve systems and enhance welfare; and digital finance will actively explore while emphasizing security. This layout aligns closely with the National Financial Regulatory Administration's requirements for building a multi-layered financial service system.

Leveraging Shanghai's home-field advantages, Bank of Communications will deeply serve Shanghai's "five centers" construction, focus on enhancing technology finance capabilities, utilize financial market trading advantages, develop cross-border and offshore finance characteristics, while implementing people-centered city construction requirements to demonstrate the strategic value of being headquartered in Shanghai.

In terms of digital transformation, Bank of Communications will deepen digital business model reforms, improve the operational mechanism of digital business centers, build a system of "digital empowerment, direct operations, and centralized operations," embed more financial services into digital scenarios, and use data elements and artificial intelligence to empower duty fulfillment, development, and risk prevention.

Regarding customer base development, Bank of Communications will advance customer base enhancement projects, implement a "strengthen medium, stabilize large, expand small" strategy, optimize customer segmentation and classification management, and expand financial coverage. Zhang emphasized: "Customers are the foundation for fulfilling functions, preventing risks, and creating value." The bank will reflect on operational management issues from the customer perspective and provide "simple and practical financial products" and "financial services with patience, warmth, industrial depth, and patriotic sentiment."

In risk prevention and control, Bank of Communications will uphold the philosophy that "risk prevention is an eternal theme in banking," strengthen integrated group management, maintain compliance baselines, respond to shocks from external uncertainties, and ensure that risk operations match the bank's capabilities.

"Bank of Communications will focus on national strategic deployment, fulfill the responsibilities of a major state-owned bank, and play the role of main force and stabilizer," Zhang emphasized. The bank will achieve its own high-quality development through high-quality service to national strategies, the real economy, and social welfare.