CITIC Financial Holdings is the first financial holding company licensed by the People’s Bank of China. It holds a full suite of financial industry licences and operates as a comprehensive financial services provider with a wide range of business operations. CITIC Financial Holdings plays a vital role in charting the development path of a financial holding company with Chinese characteristics.
In 2024, CITIC Financial Holdings innovated its comprehensive financial service model, strengthened its overall risk management and capital management capabilities and laid a solid foundation for high-quality development.
Focusing on “Five Major Tasks” to support the real economy
CITIC Financial Holdings developed an implementation plan to facilitate “Five Major Tasks” in finance to maximise the advantages of its comprehensive, full-cycle and diversified services. Its service models and exemplary cases were recognised by the People’s Daily as “2024 Cases of High-Quality Financial Development”.
Technology finance: CITIC Financial Holdings established an interconnected service system integrating equity, loans, bonds and insurance, and launched the CITIC equity investment alliance ecosystem. These initiatives expanded the company’s service to over 11,000 national-level specialised and sophisticated enterprises, achieving a coverage rate of 96%. The service offerings—including settlement, credit, IPOs, trusts, insurance and credit cards became increasingly diversified. The equity investment alliance has registered a new fund totalling RMB26.2 billion with AUM exceeding RMB300 billion. It has directly invested in and incubated over 1,000 technology innovation enterprises. The financing scale for specialised and sophisticated public listings, strategic emerging equity financing and technology innovation bond underwriting is the largest in the market.
Green finance: CITIC Financial Holdings developed a comprehensive “five-in-one” green finance service system that integrates green financing, investment, consulting, living and carbon management. This initiative supported the “2024 ESG Global Leaders Conference” in achieving “zero-carbon” status. The balance of corporate green loans has surpassed RMB600 billion, reflecting 31% growth, while the number and size of green bond underwriting continued to lead the market.
Inclusive finance: CITIC Financial Holdings has established an interconnected “five-dimensional” service system that focuses on inclusive microfinance, rural revitalisation, inclusive consumer finance, inclusive wealth management and convenient services. The balance of inclusive loans for small and micro-sized enterprises has reached nearly RMB600 billion, a 10% year-on-year increase. The charitable initiative “CITIC Creation” issued fixed income products totalling RMB11.4 billion, innovating a market-based donation model to revitalise children’s education in rural areas.
Pension finance: CITIC Financial Holdings developed a comprehensive pension finance ecosystem under the unified brand “Trust the Future, Trust Pension”. The company increased its annuity AUM to RMB1.2 trillion, reflecting a 12% increase. Additionally, the number of users for pension accounts reached 5.0355 million, a 63% increase.
Digital finance: CITIC Bank is advancing its digital transformation with a focus on “Technology Empowering Action”, successfully implementing over 80 high-value applications on its proprietary “Cangjie Large Language Model” platform. CITIC Securities is enhancing its intelligent business platform by launching “Bond Copilot”, an AI-powered bond assistant that improves risk identification and control while boosting trading efficiency. CITIC-Prudential Life is developing a data-driven marketing system and introducing the “E-partner” digital assistant for 15,000 insurance agents. CITIC Financial Holdings is working with its subsidiaries to strengthen the comprehensive service capabilities of the online platform “CITIC Wealth Plaza”, serving over 27 million customers and achieving 2.2 million monthly active users.
Focusing on risk mitigation and value creation to strengthen risk management
CITIC Financial Holdings is establishing a cross-entity risk management system tailored to its financial holding characteristics, fostering an efficient and collaborative framework that continually enhances risk management quality and effectiveness.
Optimising risk management mechanisms: CITIC Financial Holdings enhances its risk warning systems by reinforcing the role of risk appetite and having each subsidiary establish customised key monitoring indicators. The company is developing a concentration threshold management plan for the comprehensive financial services segment, refining the risk limit calculation model for large clients and improving the monitoring and early warning systems for limit compliance.
Effective risk control in key areas: CITIC Financial Holdings is capitalising on favourable real estate policies to expedite the resolution of key risk projects. By seizing opportunities presented by the hidden debt replacement policy, the company is intensifying its efforts to tackle existing risks.
Strengthening capital and financial management
By leveraging its integrated, efficient and specialised capital management system, CITIC Financial Holdings strengthens the application of management accounting to enhance management practices. This assists its subsidiaries in optimising capital allocation, implementing targeted marketing strategies and increasing revenue while controlling costs.
Intensifying key initiatives to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of capital: By utilising management accounting tools, CITIC Financial Holdings focuses on both inputs and outputs, accurately assessing the capital consumption of businesses and diligently calculating value creation. It focuses on ensuring a rational alignment between capital input and output. The company implements targeted strategies through asset recovery and disposal, business structure adjustments, key indicators control, funds transfer pricing, process optimisation and other strategic initiatives to help subsidiaries unlock their existing capital potential, effectively supporting the development of new business initiatives and further enhancing internal capacity for sustainable growth.
Enhancing capital replenishment and optimising resource allocation: By leveraging its financial holdings platform’s coordinating role, CITIC Financial Holdings has developed a multi-dimensional capital analysis and evaluation system across various sectors, optimising the overall capital allocation of the financial holdings group.
CITIC Financial Holdings is advancing a plan to increase capital to raise the registered capital to RMB42 billion. It completed the conversion of CITIC Bank’s convertible bonds with a nominal value of RMB26.4 billion, encouraging other bondholders to proceed with conversion. It increased the registered capital of CITIC-Prudential Life in two batches totalling RMB2.5 billion and injected RMB210 million into CITIC Consumer Finance, thereby supporting the quality development of both subsidiaries through capital replenishment.
Enhancing multi-dimensional profit analysis and expanding the application of management accounting: CITIC Financial Holdings focuses on key areas to conduct comprehensive multi-dimensional analyses and maximise system utilisation, fostering a positive cycle between management accounting and capital management that reduces costs and increases efficiency. It supports subsidiaries in improving the accuracy of value measurement and effectively applying analytical results. The company employed management accounting tools to achieve a revenue increase and cost savings exceeding 25% compared to the previous year.
Focusing on value creation and enhancing the wealth management framework
Guided by the principles of “platform development, mechanism establishment, rule formulation, coordination enhancement and risk management”, CITIC Financial Holdings promotes the advancement of a comprehensive wealth management system and develops integrated financial service business cases.
Capitalising on the supportive role of the wealth committee framework: CITIC Financial Holdings has facilitated its subsidiaries in maintaining market leadership in areas such as equity financing, bond underwriting and public REITs. It integrated four key areas across “Wealth Plaza”, consumer finance, team integration and channel consolidation. Additionally, it implemented the “Partner Programme” for talent development, established a practical CITIC “think tank” and upgraded the CITIC “Interbank+” platform 2.0, achieving a trading volume exceeding RMB2 trillion.
Enhancing integrated service capabilities across multiple aspects: CITIC Financial Holdings focuses on enhancing its unique service model for strategic clients. This involves implementing the “one customer, one strategy” and “one customer, one team” mechanisms to provide customised dedicated service plans for each client. As a result, the company has successfully launched several “first orders” and “largest orders” projects. It has refined the “People-Family-Enterprise-Society” service system in its Entrepreneur Office and established 18 regional centres. The cumulative issuance of “CITIC Excellent Products” reached RMB220.6 billion, with an annual increase of RMB124.9 billion or 87%, creating a differentiated competitive advantage. Furthermore, CITIC Financial Holdings participated in the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, ESG Global Leaders Conference and the second Chain Expo, further enhancing the CITIC Wealth brand’s influence.
Comprehensively expanding integrated service offerings: CITIC Financial Holdings coordinated the development of CITIC’s global comprehensive financial service plans — “CITIC, Your Trusted Partner for Going Global and Coming to China”. Its cross-border investment banking business surpassed US$5 billion, creating a comprehensive financial solution for the automotive industry’s global expansion, thereby supporting Chinese automotive companies. The company launched the first comprehensive solution for revitalising existing assets, supporting Chongqing City’s “three breakthroughs and one revitalisation” reform, with project funding amounting to RMB19 billion. CITIC Financial Holdings serves over 30 provinces and cities, including Shanghai, Guangdong and Fujian, providing comprehensive financing exceeding RMB400 billion, with three projects recognised as best practises by the National Development and Reform Commission.
| Metrics | As at 31 December 2024 (RMB trillion) | Change compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Scale of wealth management1 | 26.3 | 14.1% |
| Scale of asset management2 | 9.2 | 22.4% |
| Total integrated financing scale3 | 14.9 | 7.4% |
CITIC Financial Holdings developed an implementation plan to facilitate “Five Major Tasks” in finance to maximise the advantages of its comprehensive, full-cycle and diversified services. Its service models and exemplary cases were recognised by the People’s Daily as “2024 Cases of High-Quality Financial Development”.
Technology finance: CITIC Financial Holdings established an interconnected service system integrating equity, loans, bonds and insurance, and launched the CITIC equity investment alliance ecosystem. These initiatives expanded the company’s service to over 11,000 national-level specialised and sophisticated enterprises, achieving a coverage rate of 96%. The service offerings—including settlement, credit, IPOs, trusts, insurance and credit cards became increasingly diversified. The equity investment alliance has registered a new fund totalling RMB26.2 billion with AUM exceeding RMB300 billion. It has directly invested in and incubated over 1,000 technology innovation enterprises. The financing scale for specialised and sophisticated public listings, strategic emerging equity financing and technology innovation bond underwriting is the largest in the market.
Green finance: CITIC Financial Holdings developed a comprehensive “five-in-one” green finance service system that integrates green financing, investment, consulting, living and carbon management. This initiative supported the “2024 ESG Global Leaders Conference” in achieving “zero-carbon” status. The balance of corporate green loans has surpassed RMB600 billion, reflecting 31% growth, while the number and size of green bond underwriting continued to lead the market.
Inclusive finance: CITIC Financial Holdings has established an interconnected “five-dimensional” service system that focuses on inclusive microfinance, rural revitalisation, inclusive consumer finance, inclusive wealth management and convenient services. The balance of inclusive loans for small and micro-sized enterprises has reached nearly RMB600 billion, a 10% year-on-year increase. The charitable initiative “CITIC Creation” issued fixed income products totalling RMB11.4 billion, innovating a market-based donation model to revitalise children’s education in rural areas.
Pension finance: CITIC Financial Holdings developed a comprehensive pension finance ecosystem under the unified brand “Trust the Future, Trust Pension”. The company increased its annuity AUM to RMB1.2 trillion, reflecting a 12% increase. Additionally, the number of users for pension accounts reached 5.0355 million, a 63% increase.
Digital finance: CITIC Bank is advancing its digital transformation with a focus on “Technology Empowering Action”, successfully implementing over 80 high-value applications on its proprietary “Cangjie Large Language Model” platform. CITIC Securities is enhancing its intelligent business platform by launching “Bond Copilot”, an AI-powered bond assistant that improves risk identification and control while boosting trading efficiency. CITIC-Prudential Life is developing a data-driven marketing system and introducing the “E-partner” digital assistant for 15,000 insurance agents. CITIC Financial Holdings is working with its subsidiaries to strengthen the comprehensive service capabilities of the online platform “CITIC Wealth Plaza”, serving over 27 million customers and achieving 2.2 million monthly active users.
Focusing on risk mitigation and value creation to strengthen risk management
CITIC Financial Holdings is establishing a cross-entity risk management system tailored to its financial holding characteristics, fostering an efficient and collaborative framework that continually enhances risk management quality and effectiveness.
Optimising risk management mechanisms: CITIC Financial Holdings enhances its risk warning systems by reinforcing the role of risk appetite and having each subsidiary establish customised key monitoring indicators. The company is developing a concentration threshold management plan for the comprehensive financial services segment, refining the risk limit calculation model for large clients and improving the monitoring and early warning systems for limit compliance.
Effective risk control in key areas: CITIC Financial Holdings is capitalising on favourable real estate policies to expedite the resolution of key risk projects. By seizing opportunities presented by the hidden debt replacement policy, the company is intensifying its efforts to tackle existing risks.
Strengthening capital and financial management
By leveraging its integrated, efficient and specialised capital management system, CITIC Financial Holdings strengthens the application of management accounting to enhance management practices. This assists its subsidiaries in optimising capital allocation, implementing targeted marketing strategies and increasing revenue while controlling costs.
Intensifying key initiatives to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of capital: By utilising management accounting tools, CITIC Financial Holdings focuses on both inputs and outputs, accurately assessing the capital consumption of businesses and diligently calculating value creation. It focuses on ensuring a rational alignment between capital input and output. The company implements targeted strategies through asset recovery and disposal, business structure adjustments, key indicators control, funds transfer pricing, process optimisation and other strategic initiatives to help subsidiaries unlock their existing capital potential, effectively supporting the development of new business initiatives and further enhancing internal capacity for sustainable growth.
Enhancing capital replenishment and optimising resource allocation: By leveraging its financial holdings platform’s coordinating role, CITIC Financial Holdings has developed a multi-dimensional capital analysis and evaluation system across various sectors, optimising the overall capital allocation of the financial holdings group.
CITIC Financial Holdings is advancing a plan to increase capital to raise the registered capital to RMB42 billion. It completed the conversion of CITIC Bank’s convertible bonds with a nominal value of RMB26.4 billion, encouraging other bondholders to proceed with conversion. It increased the registered capital of CITIC-Prudential Life in two batches totalling RMB2.5 billion and injected RMB210 million into CITIC Consumer Finance, thereby supporting the quality development of both subsidiaries through capital replenishment.
Enhancing multi-dimensional profit analysis and expanding the application of management accounting: CITIC Financial Holdings focuses on key areas to conduct comprehensive multi-dimensional analyses and maximise system utilisation, fostering a positive cycle between management accounting and capital management that reduces costs and increases efficiency. It supports subsidiaries in improving the accuracy of value measurement and effectively applying analytical results. The company employed management accounting tools to achieve a revenue increase and cost savings exceeding 25% compared to the previous year.
Focusing on value creation and enhancing the wealth management framework
Guided by the principles of “platform development, mechanism establishment, rule formulation, coordination enhancement and risk management”, CITIC Financial Holdings promotes the advancement of a comprehensive wealth management system and develops integrated financial service business cases.
Capitalising on the supportive role of the wealth committee framework: CITIC Financial Holdings has facilitated its subsidiaries in maintaining market leadership in areas such as equity financing, bond underwriting and public REITs. It integrated four key areas across “Wealth Plaza”, consumer finance, team integration and channel consolidation. Additionally, it implemented the “Partner Programme” for talent development, established a practical CITIC “think tank” and upgraded the CITIC “Interbank+” platform 2.0, achieving a trading volume exceeding RMB2 trillion.
Enhancing integrated service capabilities across multiple aspects: CITIC Financial Holdings focuses on enhancing its unique service model for strategic clients. This involves implementing the “one customer, one strategy” and “one customer, one team” mechanisms to provide customised dedicated service plans for each client. As a result, the company has successfully launched several “first orders” and “largest orders” projects. It has refined the “People-Family-Enterprise-Society” service system in its Entrepreneur Office and established 18 regional centres. The cumulative issuance of “CITIC Excellent Products” reached RMB220.6 billion, with an annual increase of RMB124.9 billion or 87%, creating a differentiated competitive advantage. Furthermore, CITIC Financial Holdings participated in the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, ESG Global Leaders Conference and the second Chain Expo, further enhancing the CITIC Wealth brand’s influence.
Comprehensively expanding integrated service offerings: CITIC Financial Holdings coordinated the development of CITIC’s global comprehensive financial service plans — “CITIC, Your Trusted Partner for Going Global and Coming to China”. Its cross-border investment banking business surpassed US$5 billion, creating a comprehensive financial solution for the automotive industry’s global expansion, thereby supporting Chinese automotive companies. The company launched the first comprehensive solution for revitalising existing assets, supporting Chongqing City’s “three breakthroughs and one revitalisation” reform, with project funding amounting to RMB19 billion. CITIC Financial Holdings serves over 30 provinces and cities, including Shanghai, Guangdong and Fujian, providing comprehensive financing exceeding RMB400 billion, with three projects recognised as best practises by the National Development and Reform Commission.
Notes:
1
Scale of wealth management: Refers to the total assets held in clients’ (both individuals and institutions) financial accounts, including deposits, wealth management products, trusts, private equity investments, insurance, precious metals, and the market value of both trading and non-trading securities.
2
Scale of asset management: Refers to the total assets initiated and managed by financial institutions, including bank wealth management subsidiaries, brokerage firms, insurance asset management subsidiaries, as well as trusts, funds and futures management institutions.
3
Total integrated financing scale: Refers to the size of loans, investments, bond underwriting, IPO financing, refinancing, interbank assets and other services provided to corporate clients through the credit, bond and equity markets.