In 1987, China Merchants Bank (CMB) was founded in Shekou Industrial Zone of Shenzhen, the forefront of China's reform and opening-up. It is China's first joint-stock commercial bank wholly owned by corporate legal entities and represents the first pilot bank to promote China's banking reform driven by endeavors outside the government.
Since its inception, CMB has been leading the trends of China's banking industry through a series of pioneering efforts. It is the first bank to issue the "All-in-One Card", a milestone debit card that is managed based on customer number. It also created the first domestic online banking platform––"All-in-one Net", the first dual-currency international credit card, and the first wealth management brand for high-end customers––"Sunflower Wealth Management". It developed the first intelligent investment product in the industry––"Machine Gene Investment", which holds an asset scale of over RMB 10 billion and has introduced the new service model featuring man-to-machine integration and offline-to-online commerce to the field of wealth management. Besides, CMB had broken grounds in such services as offshore banking, buyer's credit, domestic letter of credit, enterprise annuity, cash management, online customs tax payment, corporate wealth management, and online bill acceptance.
Upholding the service philosophy of "We Are Here Just for You", CMB has grown into one of the most influential brands over the past 32 years. Among the top 1,000 World Banks by the Banker in 2019, CMB ranked 19th and 9th by tier one capital and brand value. CMB has been included in the Fortune Global 500 List for 8 consecutive years and ranked 188th on the Fortune Global 500 List in 2019.
By the end of 2019, with over 80,000 employees, CMB has set up a service network that consists of more than 1,800 branches worldwide including six overseas branches, two overseas representative offices, and service outlets located in more than 130 cities of mainland China. In mainland China, CMB has two subsidiaries, namely CMB Financial Leasing (wholly-owned) and China Merchants Fund (with controlling stake), and two joint ventures, namely CIGNA & CMB Life Insurance (50% in shareholding) and Merchants Union Consumer Finance Company (50% in shareholding). In Hong Kong, it has two wholly-owned subsidiaries, namely Wing Lung Bank and CMB International Capital. CMB has evolved into a comprehensive banking group equipped with financial licenses of commercial banking, financial leasing, fund management, life insurance, and overseas investment banking.
In recent years, CMB has pushed forward the "Light-operation Bank" strategy in pursuit of dynamic balance in quality, profitability, and scale, and fostered a safer structure, more distinctive features, and a clearer business model. As of end of December 2019, CMB's market value was RMB939.9billion, ranking the top ten worldwide.
Looking forward, CMB will position itself as a "Digital Bank". It will deepen the integration of technology and business according to customer needs and develop business agility driven by technology agility, so as to provide customers with the best experience.