The six major state-owned banks will invest over 130 billion yuan in financial technology in 2025.

Byline: Li Bing, Xiong Yue

By March 31, the six state-owned banks—Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China—have completed the disclosure of their 2025 annual reports. As the “keystone” for serving the real economy, the six banks’ operating performance has achieved steady growth, and they have continued the main line of “increasing technology investment, deepening AI application, and serving the real economy,” with total financial technology investment exceeding RMB 130 billion.

In terms of AI (artificial intelligence) technology planning, state-owned banks are committed to strengthening the development of AI infrastructure, building an AI ecosystem, and promoting large-scale AI scenario applications, thereby driving business quality improvement and efficiency gains and forming core competitiveness.

Financial technology investment hits a new high

In 2025, the six state-owned banks’ operating performance remained on a steady and positive trajectory. Core indicators such as asset size, revenue, and net profit continued to improve, while they maintained high-intensity financial technology investment, continuously strengthening the role of the digital-and-intelligent engine.

In 2025, the six state-owned banks’ total financial technology investment exceeded RMB 130 billion, up from RMB 125.46B in 2024. The scale of funding and the quality-and-efficiency of investment increased in tandem. Among them, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s financial technology investment was RMB 28.59B, exceeding RMB 20 billion for five consecutive years and leading peers; Agricultural Bank of China’s information technology funding totaled RMB 25.65B; Bank of China’s financial technology investment (domestic regulatory basis) was RMB 25B, accounting for 3.80% of operating income; China Construction Bank’s financial technology investment was RMB 26.72B, accounting for 3.51% of operating income; Postal Savings Bank of China’s information technology investment was RMB 11.79B, accounting for 3.31% of operating income; Bank of Communications’ financial technology investment was RMB 12.34B, up 6.81% year over year, accounting for 5.78% of operating income— the highest among the six banks.

For technology development, talent is the foundation. While increasing capital investment, the six state-owned banks have continued to expand their technology talent teams, building a solid talent “moat” for technological innovation and scenario applications, and ensuring that technology investment truly converts into growth momentum.

By the end of 2025, the proportion of financial technology personnel at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China reached 9.8%; at China Construction Bank, there were 30,085 digital finance personnel, accounting for 7.95% of the group’s headcount; Bank of Communications had 9,782 financial technology personnel, up 8.20% from the end of 2024, accounting for 9.99% of the group’s total employees; Postal Savings Bank of China had 7,414 technology personnel; Bank of China had a total of 19,987 technology and digital operations administrators, accounting for 6.37%.

In Tian Lihui’s view, a professor of finance at Nankai University, in 2025 the financial technology investment of state-owned banks has entered a stage of “stable growth in total volume, optimization of structure, and equal emphasis on quality and efficiency.”

“ In 2025, the total scale of financial technology investment by the six state-owned banks increased steadily year over year, and the focus of investment has shifted from ‘speed-first’ to ‘quality-first and efficiency-and-benefit-first.’ ” Lou Feipeng, a researcher at China Postal Savings Bank, said to reporters from The Securities Daily. At present, the investment direction of state-owned banks is generally focused on AI foundation models and computing power construction. They have moved from upgrading single-point technological innovation to a systematic, integrated layout combining computing power, algorithms, and data platforms. Meanwhile, various banks continue to expand hiring of technology talent, enabling end-to-end intelligence across risk control, marketing, and operations, and they place greater emphasis on building systems for independent control and security governance.

Promoting digital transformation through AI applications

If continuous technology investment is the “backing” for the digital transformation of the six state-owned banks, then the scaled rollout of AI applications is the “key lever” for releasing value. In 2025, all six state-owned banks used artificial intelligence as a lever for digital transformation. Technologies such as large models, intelligent agents, and digital employees have deeply permeated business chains including lending, risk control, customer service, and wealth management, enabling a leap from “single-point applications” to “enabling across the board,” with significant results from AI applications.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China continues to lead in its AI initiatives. In 2025, at the group level it implemented the “Voyager AI+ Action” plan and built the RMB 100 billion-parameter financial large model “ICBC Zhi Yong,” supporting phased achievements in business applications. It promoted the deployment of the large model into more than 30 business fields and more than 500 scenarios.

China Construction Bank has built an artificial intelligence application system, and large-model technology has been scaled to empower 398 scenarios across the group. It has also deeply integrated artificial intelligence technology into the workflow of customer managers, building multiple vertical intelligent agents. Intelligent risk control has made credit approval fully AI-enabled end to end. An intelligent rating system has been launched, and the precision of risk identification has improved significantly.

Agricultural Bank of China has continued to optimize AI computing power, models, and scenario operations, building the “ABC Zhi+” platform jointly built, shared, and reusable across the entire bank. It promotes large-scale “AI+” applications, empowering business operations, risk management, and customer service across the industry through embedded, assistant-style, intelligent-agent AI, and other approaches.

Bank of China fully implemented the “Artificial Intelligence +” action, and formulated the “Bank of China ‘Artificial Intelligence +’ Construction Plan.” Guided by “building a platform, consolidating data, promoting applications, preventing risks, and establishing mechanisms,” it drives the bank’s digital and intelligent transformation. It has built more than 400 intelligent assistants and achieved deep empowerment in key areas such as credit, marketing, operations, office work, customer service, and technology.

In addition, Bank of Communications is deeply推进 the “Artificial Intelligence +” action. It has deployed more than 2,500 AI intelligent agent assistants, widely covering key scenarios such as precise marketing and risk prevention and control, achieving double improvement in operational efficiency and service quality. Postal Savings Bank of China’s AI capabilities have entered a 2.0 stage. The bank’s large-model construction covers more than 260 application scenarios across front-, middle-, and back-office domains, and it opens 10 major categories of 24 general AI capabilities to each branch.

Recently, multiple state-owned banks held centralized briefings on their 2025 annual performance. Many management teams said that pushing AI toward deeper, more systematic, and more scaled applications remains a focus this year. For example, at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s 2025 annual performance press conference, Zhao Guide, vice president of ICBC, said that building a “Digital-and-Intelligent ICBC” is the bank’s key work this year. The bank will continue to implement the “Voyager AI+” action and focus on strengthening digital-and-intelligent momentum.

Tian Lihui said that current AI applications across state-owned banks show three characteristics: First, scalable AI computing power infrastructure provides the foundation for model training; second, optimization of the talent structure; third, application scenarios are advancing from back-end areas such as risk control and marketing to deeper, core business areas such as credit approval and wealth management.

As AI applications gradually move into the period of scaled value release, while the six state-owned banks are reaping technology dividends, they also face a series of new challenges and issues.

“ When banks promote the use of AI technology, they must place special emphasis on AI security, including data privacy protection and risks brought about by black-and-gray industries using AI.” Du Juan, a senior researcher at the SuShang Bank Research Institute, said in an interview with reporters from The Securities Daily.

(Editor: Qian Xiaorui)

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