Chairman of Zhejiang Commercial Bank: Entrust day after day to technology, and leave ease and confidence to employees

Ask AI · How Can the Integration of Technology and Business Avoid the “Two-Skin” Phenomenon?

On March 31, Zhejiang Commercial Bank (601916.SH) held its 2025 annual performance briefing. Chairman Chen Haiqiang, President (proposed) Lü Linhua, and other members of management attended the meeting.

Chen Haiqiang said that when discussing Zhejiang Commercial Bank’s advancement of technology transformation, the ultimate goal is not to have the most advanced systems, but to implement the strongest empowerment—using technology to reshape customer experience, improve operating efficiency, build a solid risk-control line of defense, and empower frontline employees.

“From ‘system building’ to ‘capability empowerment,’ so that technological capabilities are like water and electricity—business departments can call on them anytime and combine them flexibly.” Chen Haiqiang said that specifically, this means building enterprise-level service applications such as a customer center, a product center, a pricing center, and an accounting general ledger; building a data middle platform and a service middle platform; so that frontline teams can hear the “firepower” and can even better call on it.

Zhejiang Commercial Bank will gradually deepen the construction of its AI infrastructure system. In key areas such as marketing, management, and risk control, it will develop a number of AI demonstration scenarios: using algorithms to identify value customers of different types and predict customers’ needs; using big data to support management and make precise decisions; replacing resource-conserving operating models for manual repetitive operations; and using large models to achieve precise identification before lending and real-time monitoring after lending. Chen Haiqiang said, “Truly hand day-to-day work over to technology, and leave employees with room to maneuver.”

Chen Haiqiang said that it is also necessary to promote the shift from “technology is the business of the technology department” to “technology is the business of the whole bank.” In the past, a common misunderstanding was that the technology department was all fired up while the business department was lukewarm, making it difficult for the transformation results to take root and be implemented. The fundamental reason is that technology and business have become “two separate skins.” Zhejiang Commercial Bank will promote the deep integration of technology and business.

Recently, Zhejiang Commercial Bank released its 2025 annual performance results. In 2025, Zhejiang Commercial Bank’s total assets reached 3.48 trillion yuan, up 4.68% from the end of the previous year; operating income was 62.514 billion yuan, and net profit attributable to shareholders was 12.931 billion yuan; the non-performing loan ratio was 1.36%.

Zhejiang Commercial Bank is one of 12 national joint-stock commercial banks. It officially opened on August 18, 2004. Its headquarters is in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. It is an “A+H” listed bank and a domestic bank of systemic importance.