On Oct. 30, 2024, China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) (Stock code: SH: 601939; HK: 00939) reported its operating results for the third quarter of 2024 (The following data for the Group were prepared in line with International Financial Reporting Standards and denominated in RMB). CCB resolutely implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, fully and accurately adhered to the new development concept, actively cultivated and practiced the financial culture with Chinese characteristics, stuck to the high-quality development goals, maintained a systematic approach, focused on primary responsibilities and businesses, efficiently balanced the scale, structure, efficiency and risks of development, and realized stable and orderly overall operation.

Balanced and harmonized core indexes and general robustness of operating incomes

CCB maintained stable growth in assets and liabilities. As of September 30, 2024, the total assets reached RMB40.92 trillion, up by RMB2.60 trillion or 6.78% over the end of the previous year. The total amount of loans and advances was RMB25.75 trillion, up by RMB1.89 trillion or 7.92% over the end of the previous year. The financial investments amounted to RMB10.38 trillion, up by RMB744.858 billion or 7.73% over the end of the previous year. The total liabilities amounted to RMB37.58 trillion, up by RMB2.43 trillion or 6.90% over the end of the previous year. It took RMB28.56 trillion of deposits, up by RMB901.253 billion or 3.26% over the end of the previous year. CCB realized stable growth in profitability. The net profit reached RMB257.112 billion, up by 0.65% over the same period of the previous year. The net interest income amounted to RMB440.817 billion, and the net non-interest income amounted to RMB111.530 billion, respectively, up by 9.13% over the same period of the previous year. CCB maintained market leadership in core indexes of operation. The annualised return on average assets stood at 0.87%; and the annualised weighted average ROE was 11.03%. The net interest yield was 1.52%. CCB deepened comprehensive cost management. Its cost-income ratio was 25.25%. CCB continued to maintain an excellent capital level and structure. The capital adequacy ratio was 19.35%, Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio was 15.00%, and core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio was 14.10%.

CCB aggressively took "five major measures" to effectively serve the real economy

CCB strengthened efficient supply of sci-tech financial services. It deepened the development of the support system of sci-tech finance services and availed sci-tech finance to promote the development of new productive forces. It compiled the comprehensive financial service solution of stock-based lending and debt-based warranty "Shanjian Tech" to support the differentiated financing needs of the sci-tech innovators at different development phases. The balances of loans for strategic emerging industry and loans for technology-based enterprises amounted to RMB2.74 trillion and RMB1.82 trillion, respectively, both registering rapid growth. It established the "Smart Ecology of Sci-tech Finance 1.0" and a new online service ecology that enables one-stop services, immediate responses and convenient operations. It deepened the sci-tech financial services for "investment flows", adopted the creative business mode of "lending + direct external investment" and served more than 8 million sci-tech innovation enterprises.

CCB deepened innovative practice of green finance. It continuously consolidated the green foundation of high-quality development and promoted the all-around green transformation of economy and society. It had a balance of RMB4.58 trillion in green loans, up by 17.95% over the end of the previous year. It gave full rein to the Group's multi-license advantages and continuously enriched its green product system. Its self-operated debt investment portfolio included an investment of more than RMB200 billion in the green sector and its mean score of ESG continued to outperform the market average. It issued green bonds in a value of USD1 billion and offshore RMB blue bonds in a value of RMB2 billion. It underwrote 73 issues of green and sustainable development bonds at home and abroad, with an underwriting scale of RMB118.641 billion.

CCB increased the breadth and depth of inclusive finance. It focused on the features and needs of small and micro enterprises, individual businesses, sci-tech innovation enterprises, agriculture-related clients and upstream and downstream clients of the supply chain to deepen its inclusive financial services. The balance of inclusive finance loans reached RMB3.29 trillion, up by RMB248.461 billion over the end of the previous year; and there were 3.37 million clients of inclusive finance loans, up by 195,000 over the end of the previous year. It enriched the agriculture-related credit product system and the financial service scenarios. The balance of agriculture-related loans amounted to RMB3.35 trillion, up by RMB267.861 billion over the end of the previous year. "Yunongtong" APP had 18.33 million registered users, up by 4.67 million over the end of the previous year. The balance of "Yunong Loans" amounted to RMB292.064 billion, up by RMB96.508 billion over the end of the previous year.

CCB promoted the development of the financial service system for elderly care. It cultivated the pension finance brand of "Jian Yang An" to promote the coordinated development of the ecologies of pension finance, elderly care industry finance, elderly care service finance and elderly care finance. It continuously promoted the development of social security card businesses; expanded the coverage of the annuity system; the assets under management (AUMs) of CCB Pension Pillar II exceeded RMB600 billion; enhanced the "second-level" opening experiences of individual  pension accounts in all channels; The elderly care industry was included in the scope of industries to be preferentially supported to provide differentiated support policies, and implement the national special relending policy for inclusive elderly care, and guide credit resources towards the elderly care industry. It innovatively introduced the "Anxin" series of new pension products for enterprises relating to compensation deference, staff equity participation, charity trust, etc., and optimized the dedicated elderly service area via online channel.

CCB increased the quality and efficiency of digital financial services. It enhanced the autonomy of financial technologies and completed the conversion of the core system into a distributive system across the board. It deepened the development of the big financial model, implemented 87 business scenarios and applications and initially established a group-oriented enterprise-level application system of big financial model. It continued to promote the merger of the "Dual", i.e. mobile banking and CCB Life, and increased the scale and quality of users, with a total of 513 million users of "Dual". The balance of the loans to support the core industry of the digital economy amounted to RMB795.575 billion, up by 15.98% over the end of the previous year.

CCB predicted risks in a forward-looking and proactive manner and maintained stability of asset quality.

CCB continuously improved the comprehensive risk management system, strengthened the coordination and linkage of head office departments, domestic branches, overseas facilities and subsidiaries and reinforced the "three lines of defense" for coordinated risk control and integrated risk prevention and control of the Group. It solidly promoted the active management and control of asset quality and resolved risks in key areas in a prudent and orderly manner. It continued to promote the development of an enterprise-level risk management platform and upgraded the intelligent risk control system to a new level. CCB maintained general stability of asset quality. The NPL accounted for 1.35%, down by 0.02 pps over the end of the previous year. The provision coverage ratio was 237.03%.

The Chinese economy is running in a generally stable and progressive manner, which provides an advantageous condition for the robust operation of the banking industry. CCB will always take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide; fully implement the spirits of the 20th National Congress of the Party, the 2nd and the 3rd Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, the Central Economic Work Conference and the Central Financial Work Conference; strictly carry out central patrol inspection and correction work; continuously enhance the quality and efficiency of services for the real economy development; increase the ability to prevent and settle financial risks; better balance volume and structure, scale and efficiency, short-term and long-term benefits, local and global considerations as well as development and security; insist on the financial development path with Chinese characteristics; and contribute to the social and economic development of China with the high-quality development of CCB.