CITIC Bank released its 2025 annual report on March 20. Chairman and Executive Director Fang Heying stated in his address that the bank will share operational achievements with investors through concrete actions. The planned cash dividend for 2025 will be raised to 21.2 billion yuan, representing 31.75% of net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders. Both the dividend amount and payout ratio reached historic highs.

Full text of Fang Heying's address:

Dear Shareholders,

In 2025, China's economy withstood multiple pressures to achieve steady development with upgraded quality, while the financial industry reshaped its landscape amid transformations and nurtured new opportunities amidst challenges. This year also marked a crucial milestone in CITIC Bank's "Value Bank" initiative. More than 67,000 CITIC Bank employees worked cohesively and strove for excellence, responding to financial cycle changes with solid actions to deliver high-quality development characterized by stable progress and qualitative improvements.

The bank achieved a net profit exceeding 70 billion yuan in 2025, representing 3% year-on-year growth. The non-performing loan ratio decreased to 1.15%, while the provision coverage ratio remained stable above 200%. Total assets surpassed the 10 trillion yuan milestone. Despite complex market conditions, the bank's stock price and total market capitalization reached record highs. The MSCI ESG rating jumped two levels from "A" to the global best "AAA" rating, and the bank once again won "China's Bank of the Year" award from The Banker magazine.

These achievements and honors have enhanced CITIC Bank's brand image, providing strong evidence for our "balanced, robust, and sustainable" growth logic while demonstrating our development resilience through cycles and continuously advancing comprehensive strength.

Throughout the year, we maintained national priorities and demonstrated new accomplishments in serving the real economy. Adhering to our financial mission, we prioritized the "Five Key Financial Tasks" to align the bank's capabilities with national directions. Technology finance supported technological self-reliance, establishing a full-lifecycle service system that achieved comprehensive coverage for national-level specialized and sophisticated enterprises and manufacturing champions within the CITIC Group. Green finance deepened low-carbon development by building an ecosystem covering entire industrial chains, with green loan scale exceeding 750 billion yuan. Inclusive finance focused on livelihoods through deep integration with small business financing coordination mechanisms, with inclusive micro and small enterprise loans surpassing 640 billion yuan. Pension finance strengthened leading advantages by upgrading the "Happiness+" financial service system, doubling pension industry loan growth. Digital finance capacity accelerated through effective implementation of "AI+" and "Data Factor ×" initiatives, with diverse digital applications like wealth advisor "Xiao Xin" flourishing. These tangible outcomes formed the "CITIC Model" of comprehensive financial services, embodying both precise financial support for the real economy and resonance with China's unique financial development path.

We maintained strategic focus, advancing "Five Leadership Areas" bank construction to new levels. Persistent efforts in "wealth management, comprehensive financing, transaction settlement, foreign exchange services, and digitalization" yielded stronger progress: retail AUM achieved record annual growth, while corporate wealth management scale exceeded 300 billion yuan. The "commercial banking + investment banking + synergy + matchmaking" quadruple engine drove continued leadership in bond underwriting and capital market business. Self-developed "Xiao Tian Yuan" platform and "Tian Yuan Treasury" system deeply embedded into customer transaction scenarios. Cross-border loan balances surpassed 130 billion yuan, with client FX settlement volume growth hitting multi-year highs. Innovations like "CITIC Easy Loan" empowered business scenarios from points to surfaces. Meanwhile, strategic advancement of the "Five Leadership Areas" bank initiative accelerated momentum conversion through unique "CITIC Synergy": 37 branches, 8 subsidiaries, and group affiliates achieved full business synergy coverage, with metrics like collaborative joint financing scale growing rapidly, helping CITIC Group become China's largest direct financing service provider and comprehensive asset management institution. From endogenous growth to ecosystem co-creation, our capability boundaries continuously expanded while transformation momentum accumulated, securing leading industry competitiveness.

We upheld integrity and principles, establishing new risk control defenses. Balancing development and security, we implemented systematic improvements across five areas: asset allocation, new risk control and legacy resolution, risk prevention, system optimization, and capability empowerment. Advanced capital measurement methods progressed steadily, enhancing risk control systems and capabilities. Key indicators including "NPL + special mention" loan ratio and overdue loan ratio continued improving, with problem asset management achieving steady efficiency gains. Structural adjustments in key sectors like real estate and local government debt progressed orderly, gradually refreshing asset structure. Positive support industry credit and strategic regional loans both exceeded 60%, aligning asset deployment with national strategies while minimizing cycle impact. These outcomes reflected continuous system improvements: the effective risk control system permeated all operations, with dedicated approver mechanisms and integrated "review-management-inspection" delivering significant results, guiding balanced capital, risk, and value objectives. We recognize that asset quality forms the foundation of banking sustainability - we pursue not the fastest growth in favorable conditions, but the steadiest performance during challenges. This represents our firmest commitment to shareholders and the essential character of the "Value Bank."

We led technological innovation, elevating capabilities to new levels. Confronting global fintech transformations, we combined forward-looking planning with determined investment, persisting in both fundamental "0 to 1" technological breakthroughs and sustained "1 to 100" value creation. The three-year "Galaxy" project - the bank's largest system group construction - successfully launched, reshaping corporate credit business processes. Data asset value conversion efficiency significantly improved, achieving China's highest data management maturity certification first. The bank won the People's Bank of China's Fintech Development First Prize for the third time in five years. After years of accumulation, the enterprise-level public capability system became essentially established, with multiple technological innovations reaching industry heights. Our fintech initiatives accelerated effectiveness across customer service, investment decisions, and risk prevention: AI models deployed in over 120 application scenarios effectively supported operational efficiency; AI-powered quantitative strategy development achieved over 80% automated investment transaction pricing; technologies like "blockchain+" and "financial rare characters" continued generating capability outputs and industry demonstration effects. From infrastructure upgrades to business scenario integration, from single-point breakthroughs to systematic capability outputs, we drive operational transformation through comprehensive technological innovation while contributing to Chinese banking's digital-intelligent development.

This extraordinary year reflected shareholders' strong support and customers' deep trust. On behalf of the board and all employees, I extend highest respect and sincere gratitude to all stakeholders! We will share operational results with investors through concrete actions: the planned 2025 cash dividend increase to 21.2 billion yuan represents 31.75% of net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders, setting new records in both amount and ratio.

Building enterprises requires perseverance, but persistent efforts yield success. As 2025 concludes the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's modernization achieved new solid steps while we realized high-quality development leaps through consistent progress: net profit accomplished "50 billion," "60 billion," and "70 billion" yuan jumps within five years, making us among few joint-stock banks achieving consecutive annual growth, with cumulative profits growing over 40% compared to the 13th Five-Year Plan period. The NPL ratio declined for seven consecutive years, while provision coverage ratio increased 32 percentage points over five years, clearing historical burdens and controlling incremental risks to successfully advance from "correction" and "adjustment" phases to "fitness" phase in comprehensive risk management. Various customer segments achieved effective growth: corporate basic accounts and effective accounts grew 80% and 75% respectively over five years, while individual customers increased nearly 40%, continuously strengthening customer foundation. We effectively addressed industry interest margin compression by adhering to "volume-price balance" management strategy, outperforming the market in margin changes. Liability cost rates reached large state-owned bank levels, accumulating cost competitive advantages. Stock price and market capitalization cumulative increases ranked first among joint-stock banks, with total market value nearly doubling. Nearly 89 billion yuan in cumulative dividends over five years genuinely rewarded investors. Regulatory ratings maintained top-tier joint-stock bank positions, with Fitch and S&P upgrading international ratings successively. Global bank brand value ranking improved 2 places to 19th in Top 500, while Tier 1 capital ranking advanced 6 places to 18th in Top 1000 Global Banks. Overall, CITIC Bank's key indicators lead joint-stock banks, achieving historic progress in core operational capabilities and market brand positioning.

Five-year journey, firm footsteps. Maintaining original aspirations while advancing with the times, we persistently pursued the "Value Bank" path through "Core Strengthening Action," witnessing "Smile Curve" blossoming. We solidified direction through "higher means brighter," pioneered through "forward means splendid," and progressed steadily through "further means determined" - accumulated strategic persistence and capability development converged into "balanced, robust, sustainable" development confidence, completing transition from "recovery adjustment" to "competitive advancement" while painting a clear picture of achievable short-term performance, expectable medium-term growth, and sustainable long-term development, making high-quality development characteristics increasingly distinct and substantial.

Standing at the new starting point of 10 trillion yuan assets and embarking on the 15th Five-Year Plan journey, we clearly recognize that only by balancing integrity and innovation, maintaining rhythm through inheritance and transformation, can we continuously provide CITIC solutions to era challenges and truly achieve "Value Bank" dimensional elevation.

We will uphold original intentions through value creation fundamentals. Maintaining financial work's political and people-oriented nature, we will steadfastly build the "Value Bank" while achieving higher-quality development through national strategy services. We will shoulder real economy service responsibilities, solidly advance the "Five Key Financial Tasks," leverage state-owned financial enterprise core functions, effectively balance environmental, social, and economic benefits to become multi-value creators. We will explore differentiated financial service paths based on inherent strengths, building distinctive service systems through professional capabilities to deliver warm financial services as customers' preferred trusted partners, becoming unique value forgers. We will create sustainable long-term returns for shareholders through cycle-resilient operations balancing short-term objectives and long-term development, becoming long-term value guardians. This remains our unwavering pursuit and simplest belief - regardless of environmental changes, serving the real economy's original intention remains unchanged, value creation direction stays constant, and high-quality development steps continue unceasingly.

We will refine characteristics through strategic excellence pursuit. Maintaining strategic focus while inheriting the "Five Leadership Areas Bank Strategy" and "342 Core Strengthening Action," we will pursue excellence in "wealth management, comprehensive financing, and investment transactions" while establishing leading advantages in "payment settlement, cross-border services, and digital-intelligent" domains. We believe only by understanding industry evolution trends and building differentiated core competencies in key areas can we break homogeneous competition dilemmas and seize future development heights. We will meticulously cultivate product creation, customer experience, and ecosystem development, gradually transforming strategic blueprints into measurable, perceptible competitiveness. We trust that each strategically accumulated foresight and each development advantage cultivated in core domains will ultimately accelerate CITIC Bank's high-quality development in first-class pursuit.

We will advance confidently through long-termism future achievement. Confidence stems from deepening risk-compliance culture, where "pursuing risk-filtered returns" and "yielding profits rather than risks" have transformed from management requirements to bank-wide consensus, turning prudent philosophies into steady development outcomes. Confidence derives from continuously refining capability systems: the "triple-drive" business structure becomes increasingly balanced, capital-financial精益 management continuously improves, technology's operational transformation driving role strengthens, enhancing operational resilience and economic cycle fluctuation response capabilities while strategic "freehand brushwork" gradually transforms into business implementation "meticulous painting." Confidence further originates from unique synergy strengths: CITIC Group's "finance + industry" collaborative ecosystem provides greater development depth in comprehensive services and cross-border innovation. Together, these凝聚 powerful momentum and vitality for building a "century-old shop," continuously harvesting time's compound interest to achieve broader futures through high-quality development.

Maintain初心, reveal true colors, believe in future. Standing at the new era coordinates of the 15th Five-Year Plan, let us advance together with confidence and determination,凝聚 courage and strength, toward the next magnificent five years!