China Merchants Bank
Compared with other national commercial banks in China, China Merchants Bank has built the largest and the most competitive retail banking operation. Last year, the bank strengthened its position as the best performer in the retail banking sector.
By the end of 2017, the number of CMB’s retail banking customers had increased 17.1% from a year earlier. The total now tops 100 million; and customer assets under management in its retail banking division rose 11.5%, to approach Rmb6.2 trillion ($979 billion). CMB’s net profit was up 13% year on year, to nearly Rmb70.2 billion, thanks to the sustained rapid growth of its retail banking business, while the bank’s total operating revenue increased 5.4% to more than Rmb221 billion.
For CMB, a big enabler of its rapid retail banking growth is the bank’s fervent embrace of technology to improve operational efficiency. It has applied biometric identification technology including facial, fingerprint and voice recognition, as well as robot advisory, robot risk control and augmented reality to its retail banking operations .