At the joint press conference for the 2026 interim results held by CITIC Group on September 4, Zhu Liqun, General Manager of the Wealth Management Department at CITIC Financial Holdings, addressed how finance can precisely serve the real economy, elaborating on three key areas: direct financing, asset management, and technology finance.
In the realm of direct financing, Zhu emphasized that it directly confronts the growth value of enterprises, making it more compatible with the financing needs of technological innovation and better able to support early-stage R&D and long-term industrialization for tech firms. Policy and market forces are now forming a clear and determined resonance. Citing CITIC's data, the company maintained a market-leading position in direct financing during the first half of the year, balancing both scale and structural opportunities.
"With the professional capabilities in direct financing to support RMB internationalization, CITIC must be present, and CITIC happens to be present," Zhu stated. Looking ahead, she outlined a three-pronged strategy to build the strongest direct financing institution: first, strengthening the main entity by accelerating the development of a world-class investment bank, deepening engagement with multi-tiered capital markets, and expanding equity and debt financing; second, extending the chain by seizing the opportunity window for mergers and acquisitions, broadening services from corporate listings to industrial integration and market value management; and third, expanding the space by deepening domestic and international coordination, leveraging both markets and both types of resources to widen financing channels for domestic enterprises.
In asset management, Zhu noted that while direct financing answers where the money for the real economy comes from, asset management addresses where social wealth should go. The essence of asset management lies in fiduciary responsibility, smoothing cross-cycle risks through professional asset allocation, converting them into sustainable long-term returns, and guiding funds toward the real economy to achieve a coordinated balance between wealth preservation and appreciation and optimal resource allocation.
Zhu highlighted three core capabilities CITIC is focusing on: first, enhancing internal strength by improving investment research and advisory capabilities, deepening expertise in key sectors such as technology, green finance, and elderly care to help clients identify sound assets and build resilient investment portfolios; second, strengthening supply by having CITIC's various asset management institutions leverage their unique strengths to refine efficient, risk-controlled long-term product creation mechanisms and expand product matrices to match clients' differentiated allocation needs, ensuring "there is always a suitable product for you"; and third, consolidating joint forces by deepening partnerships with leading domestic and international asset management institutions, introducing quality institutions and overseas assets, and fostering a new ecosystem for responsible global asset allocation.
On technology finance, which ranks first among the "five major articles" in finance, Zhu emphasized that the focus is on smoothing the virtuous cycle among technology, industry, and finance while accelerating the cultivation of new quality productive forces. "From an innovative seed to a thriving rainforest, technological innovation calls for patience, and capital calls for full-lifecycle financial partnership. This is precisely CITIC's original intention of building an all-license, full-cycle service matrix centered on customers," she explained. Horizontally, the services cover four stages of enterprise development—financing, startup, growth, and maturity—while vertically, CITIC integrates all-license resources spanning banking, securities, trust, insurance, funds, asset management, futures, and leasing, with equity investment as the core and a diversified relay-style service model combining equity, loans, bonds, and insurance. This has become a distinctive hallmark of CITIC's technology finance.
"CITIC is among the earliest Chinese enterprises to go global, with operations spanning more than 160 countries and regions, and we have established the service brands of 'Going abroad? Find CITIC' and 'Coming to China? Find CITIC.' From Hong Kong IPO listings to offshore bond issuance, from cross-border settlements to global supply chain layout, we accompany enterprises throughout their journey from products going global to operations going local and technologies going up. Growing toward the light, time will provide the answers. Today, every seed we carefully nurture may grow into a towering tree supporting China's economy tomorrow. CITIC has both the capability and the responsibility to serve as the national team for long-term capital, empowering industries and co-building ecosystems through comprehensive financial services, helping more Chinese enterprises become world-class, and contributing CITIC's strength to the nation's pursuit of high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement," Zhu concluded.