Vice President of China Minsheng Bank, Zhang Juntao: Promoting retail business as a long-term, foundational strategic initiative

（Source: Beijing Business Daily）

Beijing Business Daily, March 31—(Reporter Meng Fanxia, Zhou Yili) On March 31, Minsheng Bank held its 2025 annual performance exchange meeting. Zhang Juntong, Executive Director and Vice President of the bank, provided a detailed interpretation of the development of its retail business and its 2026 plans. He said that, as a long-term and foundational strategic business prioritized for development, the bank’s retail business in 2025 focused on high-quality development—encompassing not only growth in volume but also greater emphasis on improving its structure.

Zhang Juntong said that in 2025, Minsheng Bank put more focus on customer acquisition. It implemented the philosophy that customer acquisition is itself business operations, and continued to strengthen efforts to improve high-quality, targeted acquisition in order to enhance the overall customer structure by controlling the source at the outset.

Zhang Juntong introduced that in 2025, Minsheng Bank’s number of newly acquired retail customers increased year on year by 19.16%, and its new-customer AUM balance increased year on year by 30%, with a marked improvement in customer acquisition quality. At the same time, the bank deepened corporate linkage, expanded the depth of operating “pan-payroll” customer groups, and by the end of 2025 the year-on-year increase in the number of value customers receiving payroll services across the bank was 10.05%, with the cumulative amount of payroll services increasing by 13.18%. The results of its key strategic cooperation with the Sam’s project were also outstanding. By year-end, cumulative customer acquisition for credit cards exceeded 1.3 million households, of which nearly 60% were customers holding both debit cards and credit cards. In addition, the bank promoted an upgrade in its customer acquisition model from “acquiring customers through account opening” to “ecosystem-based operations,” strengthened coordination between products and customer segments, and improved the effectiveness of integrated operations. It also supported growth among private business customers through private business-focused specialty services across business lines and regions. Moreover, Minsheng Bank’s distinctive financial community sub-branches further deepened last year’s one-stop integrated financial services. The balance of financial assets at community sub-branches exceeded 500 billion yuan. Among “Group 1” new customers, average AUM increased by 13% year over year, further demonstrating the improvement in customer acquisition quality. From an operational standpoint, Minsheng Bank continued to improve its tiered and categorized management and operational system, with notable results. Specifically, the number of customers sent upward from direct branches increased year on year by 10.33%; the transfer of customers from the wealth segment to private business segments increased year on year by 19.21%; and the retention rate of private business customers was further improved on top of a high baseline.

Looking ahead to 2026, Zhang Juntong said Minsheng Bank will maintain strategic focus and continue to advance the retail business as a long-term, foundational strategic business. It will adhere to the main work line of “steady growth, better structure, stronger fundamentals, and improved efficiency,” strengthen the retail operation system, strengthen risk management, and promote high-quality development of the retail business. It will focus on three key areas: first, deepen digital and intelligence-driven operations. Relying on the bank’s “retail brain,” whose basic infrastructure was completed last year, it has now run through the entire process from data collection and management decisions to marketing planning and sales execution, based on different products and customer segments, forming a positive flywheel. In 2026, the digital intelligence base will become an important driver for high-quality development. Second, strengthen foundational capabilities. Adhering to the principle of “customer first and service with care,” the bank will continuously strengthen basic customer bases, basic products, basic services, and basic management, build strong capabilities for serving all customers, all products, all channels, and all scenarios, and enhance customers’ sense of achievement and satisfaction. Third, optimize the business structure. It will run better structure through the entire process of high-quality development, focusing on optimizing the customer structure, asset structure, and liability structure—especially by adjusting the structure of consumer loan assets. It will strictly follow policy guidance and regulatory requirements, strengthen risk management, return to the financial sector’s roots, and serve the real economy, thereby continuously reinforcing the foundation for high-quality development of the retail business.

Zhang Juntong emphasized that in 2026, Minsheng Bank will do its work patiently and persistently in accordance with the requirements of long-term and foundational strategic business, and will continuously solidify the foundation for the high-quality development of Minsheng Bank’s retail business.

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