Everbright Bank President Hao Cheng: The "14th Five-Year Plan" will focus on three key areas of work

March 31, 2025 financial front-line news: Today, Everbright Bank held a 2025 annual results briefing. The bank’s president, Hao Cheng, said that in 2025, Everbright Bank firmly implemented the decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee, adhered to serving the real economy as its fundamental purpose, and closely integrated “What Everbright Can Do” with “what the country needs” and “what the people hope for.” It continued to optimize financial services and the supply of credit funds, accelerated the cultivation of operational business characteristics, and delivered loan growth rates in key areas such as the “Five Major Financial Articles” that were faster than the bank-wide average loan growth rate, achieving positive operating outcomes.

First, in the area of technology finance. In 2025, our bank built a “1+16+100” specialized organization system for technology finance. It created exclusive specialty products for technology companies such as “Payroll Loan,” “Technology R&D Loan,” and “Equity-Linked Loan,” and built innovative service models including “loan + direct investment,” investment-and-loan integration, and equity options. It also formed an ecosystem for technology finance. It carried out a series of technology finance activities titled “Integrate the Ecosystem to Help Sci-Tech Innovation,” widely building cooperation platforms around “banks, government, enterprises, parks, universities, research institutes, and investors.” Leveraging Everbright Group’s comprehensive financial capabilities and synergy between industry and finance, it promoted an expansion in the incremental coverage of comprehensive services for technology enterprises. It provided “lend early and lend small” financial support for entrepreneurship projects by alumni at multiple universities and for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. It provided dedicated credit funds for “filling the supply-chain gaps and strengthening the supply chain.” It focused on conducting industry research to cultivate and grow emerging industries and future industries, and developed tailored service solutions for the integrated circuit “design and R&D, equipment and materials, production and manufacturing, packaging and testing” across the entire industrial chain. In 2026, our bank will continue to increase financial support for areas highly related to technology finance.

Second, in the area of green finance. In 2025, our bank enriched the “green finance+” product system and implemented the bank’s first “emission-reduction loan.” It released a development plan for transition finance and implemented the bank’s first transition loan. It supported 23 market entities in issuing 35 green bonds, with total underwriting of RMB 10.4 billion, and it leveraged RMB 109.4 billion in direct corporate financing. In 2026, our bank will closely align with the national green development priorities, continue to increase credit deployment in key areas, and expand the scale of transition finance business. At the same time, it will enrich specialty products to achieve full coverage of green-entity services.

Third, in the area of inclusive finance. In 2025, our bank carried out an in-depth “visiting thousands of enterprises and households” campaign and steadily advanced the “Qianfan Plan” and the “Ten Thousand Agricultural Machinery Update Plan,” while continuing to promote the digital transformation of inclusive finance. The number of inclusive finance customers across the bank reached 495,300 households, up 59,600 from the beginning of the year. In 2026, our bank will, in accordance with regulatory requirements, solidly maintain stable growth and optimize the structure of inclusive finance, further optimize online products and services to meet customer needs, and strengthen end-to-end risk management for inclusive finance.

Fourth, in the area of pension finance. In 2025, our bank built two major distinctive offerings: a comprehensive service model of “finance + healthcare, elderly care, and wellness travel” and a coordinated service model of “bank insurance and pension care.” It expanded and added “pension finance service centers,” providing all-round integrated financial services for pension service institutions. Throughout the year, it offered more than 1,000 pension finance products, and pension finance specialized-area services reached 31.1 million customer visits. In 2026, our bank will deepen the distinctive features of integrated pension finance services, with “finance-enabled + ecosystem co-building” as its core, upgrade pension-industry financial services, and actively participate in the construction of a multi-pillar, multi-level pension security system.

Fifth, in the area of digital finance. In 2025, our bank strengthened the top-level design for digital finance and innovated a digital finance evaluation system. It expanded scenario-based financial services, consolidated its leading advantage in cloud-based bill payments, and served 3.67 billion people throughout the year, with the total payment amount increasing by 8.3% year over year. It also actively applied AI technology to build a “super employee” operating model. In 2026, our bank will accelerate the improvement of the development plan for digital finance, deepen the integration of technology empowerment with business and technologies, and steadily and prudently advance AI applications to inject new vitality into business operations, enhancing the sharedness, convenience, and efficiency of financial services.

Regarding the development direction of the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, Hao Cheng said that recently Everbright Bank has extensively solicited opinions from all sides, studied and drafted the preliminary version of the 《Everbright Bank “15th Five-Year Plan” Strategic Plan》. It is currently being revised and improved, and is undergoing internal procedures. During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, the bank will adhere to and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership, uphold the political nature and people-centered character of financial work, follow the main line of preventing risks, strengthening regulation, and promoting high-quality development, and follow the strategic requirements of focusing on its core business, improving governance, and developing in a non-homogenized way. It will focus on its primary responsibilities and core business, cultivate and form competitive advantages, and continue to advance high-quality development.

Specifically, during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, Everbright Bank will focus on three areas of work. First is serving the real economy, serving national strategies, and serving social wellbeing and people’s livelihoods—doing a good job of the “Five Major Financial Articles,” and fulfilling the strategic tasks and social responsibilities of a central state-owned financial enterprise. Second is adhering to non-homogenized development, fully building six distinctive businesses, including Yangguang Sci-Tech Innovation, Yangguang Wealth, Everbright Cloud Bill Payments, Yangguang Jiaoyin, Yangguang Investment Banking, and Yangguang Gold Market, to enhance the capability of comprehensive financial services and comparative competitive advantages. Third is strengthening core capabilities such as digital empowerment, customers’ integrated operation capability, comprehensive risk management, refined management and service capability, corporate governance capability, and team professional capability by improving governance, deepening reforms, and coordinating development and security, thereby providing strong strategic support to achieve the development goals of the “15th Five-Year Plan” period.

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Responsible editor: Zhang Wen