Adhering to the principle of “providing timely assistance and serving the people's livelihoods”, the Bank actively explores inclusive finance development models with affordable costs and commercial sustainability, and leads with “value-driven inclusivity”. By applying the experience of the “model villages”, it continuously strengthens financial support for micro and small enterprises, agricultural entities, and key assisted groups. The Bank strives to enhance the accessibility and convenience of financial services, delivering warmer financial solutions to meet the public's aspirations for higher-quality living and advance common prosperity to new heights.

In 2024, the Bank was rated “Tier 1” (the highest level) in the financial service regulatory assessment on micro and small enterprises by the NFRA. For the third consecutive year, it was the only joint-stock bank to be ranked as “Excellent” in the rural revitalization assessment by the People's Bank of China and NFRA. The exclusive service model customized for the agricultural reclamation field was selected into the “Top Ten Innovative Models of Financial Support for Agriculture” by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

1. Strengthening Guidance from Top-Level Design

The Bank actively responds to national policies, positioning inclusive finance as a strategic priority in its three-year development plan. Leveraging the coordination mechanisms of the Inclusive Finance and Rural Revitalization Leading Group and Task Force, the Bank systematically advances related initiatives. The Bank formulated the China CITIC Bank Action Plan for Advancing Inclusive Finance, clarifying development goals, key measures, and responsibilities. The Bank implemented the “Five Specials and Five Strengthens”model of the coordinated financing mechanism for micro and small enterprises, ensuring detailed execution and driving high-quality development of inclusive finance.

2. Enhancing Policy and Resource Support

The Bank allocates dedicated credit quotas for inclusive small and micro enterprises and agricultural sectors, cascading targets to provincial branches. Performance on inclusive finance indicators is linked to branch leaders' assessments, maintaining a weight of over 10% in comprehensive evaluations. The Bank strengthened credit policy guidance, defined risk tolerance levels, improved small and micro enterprise loan renewal management, and refined the diligence exemption system. Service fees are standardized, and fee reductions for small and micro enterprises are actively implemented. Resources such as profit subsidies and marketing budgets are allocated to incentivize branch engagement.

3. Intensifying Support and Services

3.1 Small and Micro Enterprises

In 2024, the Bank expanded its product portfolio to meet diverse financing needs, launching new offerings like “Operation E Loan” and “Sci-Tech E Chain”, while optimizing existing products such as “Housing Mortgage E Loan”, “Sci-Tech E Loan”, and “Order E Loan”, making the “CITIC Easy Loan” product system mature further. With a focus on “stabilizing mortgage loans and excelling in supply chain finance”, the Bank developed integrated online-offline solutions to build the personal inclusive product portfolio, including real estate mortgage loans, digital credit loans, and supply chain scenario-based loans. The Bank leverages the synergistic advantages of the CITIC Group's “extensive industrial coverage and full financial license”, strengthens the linkage with its financial and industrial subsidiaries, and carries out cross-border cooperation with governmental departments and large-scale platforms to provide one-stop “credit +” integrated services, such as financing, wealth management, and settlement. We provide one-stop “credit +” services such as financing, wealth management and settlement. Digital tools were leveraged to improve service quality and efficiency, optimizing the digital product innovation factory and production lines for faster supply. Digital services and marketing tools like “Smart Online Banking”, “Smart Marketing”, and “Inclusive AI Business Manager” were upgraded for better customer experiences.

By the end of 2024, the balance of loans to micro and small businesses was RMB1,655.863 billion, an increase of RMB190.606 billion from the end of the previous year; the number of customers with outstanding loans was 328.6 thousand, an increase of 28.3 thousand from the end of the previous year. The balance of inclusive loans to micro and small businesses was RMB599.825 billion, an increase of RMB54.749 billion from the end of the previous year, a growth faster than the average growth of all types of loans; the number of customers with outstanding loans was 310.4 thousand, an increase of 26.8 thousand from the end of the previous year. In 2024, the interest rates on inclusive loans to micro and small businesses fell by 0.33 percentage points, driving the steady decline in the comprehensive financing costs of micro and small businesses at the Bank.

3.2 Rural Revitalization

In 2024, the Bank stayed focused on key aspects. The Bank focused on the key industries of rural revitalization, such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, the key customer groups in rural revitalization, such as rural revitalization groups, leading industrialization enterprises and new farmers, and the key regions of rural revitalization, such as the key county areas covered by the Bank's outlets. Guided by the combination of “Five Policies”, the Bank developed marketing guidelines and review & approval criteria with regional characteristics, deepened connection to channels, carried out “Teaming with CITIC for a Shared Future of Prosperity” and other marketing campaigns, and continuously increased credit support. The Bank remained committed to the synergistic advantages. Further leveraging the synergy across CITIC Group, it collaborated with the financial and industrial subsidiaries within the Group on the establishment of a service system that integrates “financing, intelligence, industry, construction and sales”, providing farming and breeding enterprises with “financing” services related to equity, debts, loans and investment, providing agricultural industrial planning with think tank consulting and other “intelligence” services, providing leading agricultural enterprises with industrial transformation and other “industry” services, providing agricultural industrial parks with engineering construction and other “construction” services, and providing agricultural products with online and offline promotion and other “sales” services. With such efforts, the Bank further sharpened its distinct competitive edges.

By the end of 2024, the number of agriculture-related loans customers was 63,800, and the balance of agriculture-related loans reached RMB445.918 billion, with the growth rates exceeding the average of all loans.

*The English version were translated based on the Simplified Chinese version. In case of any discrepancies among the versions, the Simplified Chinese version shall prevail.