Who Are the Core Customers of Bank of Communications Company?

Bank of Communications core customers include large SOEs and national infrastructure sponsors, where the bank acts as a lead financier for projects tied to China's New Quality Productive Forces initiative; this institutional book accounted for a substantial share of corporate lending in 2025, supporting on-balance-sheet loans exceeding RMB 3.2 trillion (2025 fiscal lending mix). Mission, Vision, and Values of Bank of Communications Company

Bank of Communications retail customers focus on the mass-affluent: individuals with investable assets between RMB 500,000 and RMB 5,000,000; by early 2026 this segment became the primary driver of fee-based income, contributing over 35% of non-interest income in 2025 through wealth management and advisory services.

Bank of Communications serves a mixed base: institutional corporate clients (SOEs, large corporates, multinational counterparties) plus retail and private banking clients; corporate banking and wealth management together comprised the dominant revenue mix in 2025, with corporate net interest income and retail fee income both material to total operating income.

The mass-affluent segment appears most commercially important in 2025/2026: Bank of Communications wealth management clients drove fee income growth, with mass-affluent relationships up year-over-year and average wallet sizes concentrated in the RMB 0.5-5.0 million band; this shift reduced reliance on NII and increased cross-sell into treasury and brokerage services.

The Yangtze River Delta concentrates Bank of Communications core customers-large corporates in tech manufacturing, high-net-worth households, and regional SMEs-producing over 30% of operating income historically and driving margin-rich lending and wealth-management fees.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) ranks second for Bank of Communications customer segments; Wealth Management Connect and cross-border investment flows lift demand among wealth management clients and private banking prospects.

Bank of Communications is strongest in retail digital adoption and regional fee income: by Q1 2026 over 97% of retail transactions and 90% of corporate banking functions began on digital channels, concentrating revenue in affluent coastal provinces.

Demand appears fastest-growing in GBA cross-border wealth services and digital SME banking in the Yangtze corridor; trends in 2025-2026 show rising wealthy-client inflows and SME digital lending requests, expanding the bank's wealth management and corporate client base. See Leadership and Ownership of Bank of Communications Company for related context.

Bank of Communications expands into retail and adjacent segments using a Dual Engine strategy: traditional SOE-focused corporate banking plus fintech-driven retail products that target younger, urban customers and middle-class savers.

The bank keeps core corporate clients by concentrating branch and relationship managers in high-tier cities and preserving tailored trade, cash management, and cross-border services for multinational and state-owned clients.

Cross-selling credit cards, wealth management, and SME cash solutions increases wallet share; digital onboarding and micro-wealth nudges raise repeat usage among Bank of Communications retail customers and wealth management clients.

Data-driven risk models enable expansion into green finance and inclusive SME lending while keeping NPLs near 1.30 percent (2025), and digital channels extend services to lower-tier cities without diluting branch-focused corporate coverage.