Year  2005

March 12
The Banker magazine and China Commercial Bank Competitiveness Research Center jointly released in Beijing their rank list of Chinese commercial banks in terms of competitiveness. The China Merchants Bank sits on the top of the list of overall competitiveness that includes 14 state-owned commercial banks and joint stock commercial banks. The bank was also rated the first in terms of service quality competitiveness, financial innovation competitiveness and corporate administration competitiveness.

In March, China Merchants Bank President Ma Weihua was selected as "2004 Star of Promise" by a British magazine The Banker. Ma was the first Chinese banker ever given this honor. It is also learned that he was listed side-by-side with Alan Greenspan, Warren Edward Buffett, as well as high-ranking executives from the Citibank, Goldman Sachs Bank, Bank of America, and Union Bank of Switzerland.