2025 Bank Annual Report Insights: State-Owned Major Banks Outline Private Banking Business Strategy; Joint-Stock Commercial Banks Highlight Achievements

By Peng Yan, a reporter

As 2025 annual reports from listed banks are gradually released, the private banking business is showing new changes in information disclosure and development paths. The four state-owned big banks—Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, and China Construction Bank—have not disclosed core data such as the scale of private banking managed assets and the number of customers, but they have described their business strategies and service upgrade initiatives. Joint-stock banks, meanwhile, have fully disclosed the relevant data, and most banks’ private banking managed asset scale and customer numbers have grown.

Interviewees said this change reflects a profound shift in the underlying logic of private banking development. The industry is entering deep transformation in customer segment structure, service models, and competitive paths. In the future, competition in private banking will also shift from scale expansion to a contest of comprehensive service capabilities such as asset allocation, wealth inheritance, and non-financial services.

Private banking focuses differ

Based on the disclosed data, in 2025, private banking business at joint-stock banks as a whole saw steady growth. In 2025, the private banking customers of China Merchants Bank (meaning retail customers with monthly average total assets in RMB of not less than 10 million at the bank) reached 199,326 households, up 17.87% from the end of the previous year. The private banking monthly average comprehensive financial assets of Industrial Bank reached 1.11T yuan (banking basis, excluding the market value of third-party custody), up 15.15% from the end of the previous year. Private banking customers’ monthly average number was 86,901 households, up 12.83% from the end of the previous year, and assets per household increased in tandem. Ping An Bank’s private banking customers were 105.6k households, up 9.1% from the end of the previous year. The balance of private banking customers’ assets under management was 105.6k yuan, up 0.8% from the end of the previous year. Everbright Bank’s private banking customers were 75,667 households, up 6.26% from the end of the previous year. The asset management scale of its private banking customers was 7,436.57 billion yuan, up 6.08% from the end of the previous year. In addition, Zhejiang Commercial Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Minsheng Bank, and China CITIC Bank’s private banking business also achieved double growth in both asset scale and customer base.

State-owned big banks show clear differentiation in private banking data disclosure. Only Postal Savings Bank of China and Bank of Communications have published relevant operating data; the other four state-owned big banks have not disclosed specific indicators. Although detailed data has not been released, state-owned big banks have clearly stated their transformation directions. They mainly focus on areas such as smart-and-digital upgrades, global services, deep cultivation of key customer segments, and wealth inheritance, and they continue to improve the private banking service system.

Specifically, ICBC connects customer service and value chains through a comprehensive financial solution. By enabling intelligent transformation with AI, it focuses on building a service system for scientist and tech-innovation entrepreneur customer groups and has also launched a charity account in its mobile banking app. ABC improves its three core service capabilities—wealth management, customer operations, and ecosystem integration—driving quality upgrades of its “private banking +” platform. BOC continues to build global, comprehensive, and customized private banking services, and it has actively developed trust businesses. The number of customers for wealth management trusts and charitable trusts increased 64% from the end of the previous year. CCB, meanwhile, has comprehensively upgraded core financial services for private banking, such as asset allocation, wealth planning, family advisory, and corporate financing, and it is promoting fine-grained operations through customer segmentation and tiered grouping.

Xue Hongyan, a special researcher at Su商 Bank, told reporters from The Securities Daily that some state-owned big banks do not disclose core data due to multiple factors: such indicators are not statutory disclosure items, and banks have the discretion to choose.

Transition toward “deep value cultivation”

The annual reports of the relevant banks show that private banking is moving away from reliance on “product sales” and toward full-lifecycle integrated financial services. High-net-worth clients are becoming younger and more diversified. Demand for wealth inheritance, cross-border asset allocation, and non-financial services has surged. Family trusts, insurance premium trusts, and charitable trusts have become engines of business growth. Digitalization and ecosystem-building are becoming core competitive strengths. Banks strengthen business synergy and use big data and artificial intelligence to improve service efficiency and precision.

Liao Feipeng, a researcher at China Postal Savings Bank, told reporters from The Securities Daily that the deep cultivation of value in private banking is reflected in adjustments to service and customer strategies. In terms of service models, banks are gradually shifting from single product sales to full-lifecycle asset allocation, and they focus on strengthening wealth inheritance services such as family trusts and charitable trusts. In terms of customer strategy, they focus on segmented customer groups such as entrepreneurs, leaders of tech-innovation enterprises, and new-economy groups, and provide tailored integrated financial solutions. At the same time, banks use digital means to build a “finance + non-finance” service ecosystem, enabling a transformation from scale expansion to quality improvement.

Looking ahead to 2026, Xue Hongyan believes that private banking business will take on a development pattern of “top-end concentration with characteristic breakthroughs.” The driving force for growth will shift from external scale expansion to internal value deep-diving, and services will transform toward “advisory-based” and “investment-banking-style” approaches. State-owned big banks will maintain their dominance by leveraging their advantages in integrated finance. Joint-stock banks will accelerate catch-up with differentiated strategies, while regional banks will deepen cultivation of local industry customer segments. In the future, industry competition will focus on capabilities for insight into customer needs, integration of ecosystem resources, and technology application. Cross-border finance, green finance, and retirement security will become new growth points.

(Editor: Qian Xiaorui)

Key words: