The six major state-owned banks will invest over 130 billion yuan in financial technology in 2025.

By our reporter Li Bingxiong Yue

As of March 31, the annual reports for 2025 for six major state-owned banks, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China, have all been fully disclosed. As the “anchor” serving the real economy, the six banks have achieved steady growth in operating performance, and have continued the main line of “increasing technology investment, deepening AI application, and serving the real economy.” The total scale of financial technology investment exceeds 130 billion yuan.

In terms of AI (artificial intelligence) technology planning, state-owned banks are committed to strengthening AI infrastructure, building an AI ecosystem, and promoting large-scale application of AI in major scenarios, thereby driving improvements in business quality and efficiency and building core competitiveness.

Financial technology investment hits a new high

In 2025, the operating performance of the six state-owned banks remained on track, with core indicators such as total assets, operating income, and net profit continuing to improve. At the same time, they maintained high-intensity financial technology investment, continuously strengthening the role of a digital intelligence “core engine.”

In 2025, the total financial technology investment by the six state-owned banks exceeded 130 billion yuan, up further from 125.46B yuan in 2024. The scale of capital investment and the quality and effectiveness improved in tandem. Among them, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s financial technology investment was 28.59B yuan, exceeding 20 billion yuan for five consecutive years, leading peers; Agricultural Bank of China’s total information technology funding was 25.65B yuan; Bank of China’s financial technology investment (domestic regulatory basis) was 25B yuan, accounting for 3.80% of operating income; China Construction Bank’s financial technology investment was 26.72B yuan, accounting for 3.51% of operating income; Postal Savings Bank of China’s information technology investment was 11.79B yuan, accounting for 3.31% of operating income; Bank of Communications’ financial technology investment was 12.34B yuan, up 6.81% year over year, accounting for 5.78% of operating income—its highest among the six banks.

Development through technology, and talent is the key. While increasing capital investment, the six state-owned banks have continued to strengthen their teams of technology professionals. They build a solid “talent moat” for technological innovation and scenario applications, ensuring that technology investment truly converts into development momentum.

By the end of 2025, the proportion of financial technology personnel at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China reached 9.8%; China Construction Bank had 30,085 digital finance personnel, accounting for 7.95% of the group’s headcount; Bank of Communications had 9,782 financial technology personnel, up 8.20% from the end of 2024, representing 9.99% of the group’s total employees; Postal Savings Bank of China had 7,414 technology personnel; and Bank of China had 19,987 staff members who served as technology and digital operation administrators, accounting for 6.37%.

In Tian Lihui’s view, a professor of finance at Nankai University, in 2025, the financial technology investment by state-owned banks has entered a stage of “steady growth in total scale, optimized structure, and equal emphasis on quality and effectiveness.”

“In 2025, the total scale of financial technology investment by the six state-owned banks grew steadily year over year, and the focus of investment has shifted from ‘focusing on speed’ to ‘focusing on quality and effectiveness.’” Lou Feipeng, a researcher at Postal Savings Bank of China, told reporters of The Securities Daily. “Currently, the investment direction of state-owned banks generally focuses on AI large models and computing power construction. The upgrade has moved from single-point technological innovation to a systematic, end-to-end layout integrating computing power, algorithms, and data platforms. At the same time, the banks have continued to expand their recruitment of technology talent, enabling end-to-end intelligence across risk control, marketing, and operations, and they have paid greater attention to the construction of independent controllability and a secure governance system.”

Using AI applications to drive digital transformation

If continuous technology investment is the “backing” for the digital transformation of the six state-owned banks, then the large-scale rollout of AI applications is the “core lever” for unlocking value. In 2025, all six state-owned banks used artificial intelligence as a lever for digital transformation. Technologies such as large models, intelligent agents, and digital employees have deeply penetrated business chains including lending, risk control, customer service, and wealth management, achieving a leap from “single-point applications” to “enabling the entire domain.” The results of AI applications have been significant.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China continues to lead in its AI initiatives. In 2025, at the group level, the bank implemented the “Voyager AI+” action plan, building the “ICBC Zhi Yong,” a financial large model with a trillion-parameter scale, to support business applications and achieve phased results. It has enabled the deployment of large models in more than 30 business areas into over 500 scenarios.

China Construction Bank built an artificial intelligence application system, and large-model technology has been scaled to empower 398 scenarios across the group. At the same time, it has deeply integrated artificial intelligence technology into client manager workflow and built multiple domain-specific intelligent agents. Intelligent risk control enables end-to-end AI processing for credit approval, and it has launched an intelligent rating system, significantly improving the accuracy of risk identification.

Agricultural Bank of China has continued to optimize AI computing power, models, and scenario operations, building a “ABC Zhi+” platform for the whole bank that supports shared and shared use across the organization. It has advanced the large-scale application of “AI+.” By employing embedded, assistant-style, and intelligent-agent AI approaches, it has empowered full-bank business operation, risk management, and customer service.

Bank of China has comprehensively implemented the “Artificial Intelligence+” action, formulated the “China Construction Plan for Bank of China’s ‘Artificial Intelligence+’” and driven the bank’s digital transformation around “build a platform, consolidate data, promote applications, prevent risks, and establish mechanisms.” It has built more than 400 intelligent assistants and achieved deep empowerment in key areas including credit, marketing, operations, office work, customer service, and technology.

In addition, Bank of Communications has pushed forward the “Artificial Intelligence+” action in depth. It has already deployed more than 2,500 AI intelligent agent assistants, widely covering key scenarios such as precise marketing and risk prevention and control, achieving a double improvement in operational efficiency and service quality. Postal Savings Bank of China’s AI capabilities have entered the 2.0 stage. The bank’s large-model construction covers more than 260 application scenarios across front-, middle-, and back-office domains, and it has opened up 10 categories and 24 sets of general AI capabilities to each branch.

Recently, several state-owned banks have held concentrated briefings on their 2025 annual performance. Many senior executives of state-owned banks said that advancing AI in depth, in an integrated and systematic way, and on a large scale remains a focus of work this year. For example, at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s 2025 performance release meeting, Zhao Guide, vice president of ICBC, said that building the “Digital Intelligent ICBC” is a key task for ICBC this year. The bank will continue to implement the “Voyager AI+” action and focus on strengthening digital-intelligence momentum.

Tian Lihui said that currently, AI applications by state-owned banks show three characteristics: first, the large-scale AI computing power infrastructure provides a foundation for model training; second, the talent structure has been optimized; third, application scenarios have moved from back-end areas such as risk control and marketing to deeper penetration into core businesses such as credit approval and wealth management.

As AI applications gradually move into a phase of large-scale value release, while the six state-owned banks are reaping technology dividends, they also face a series of new challenges and issues.

“When banks promote the application of AI technology, they need to attach extra importance to AI security issues, including data privacy protection as well as the risks brought by black-and-gray industries’ use of AI.” Du Juan, a senior researcher at the Research Institute of SuShang Bank, said in an interview with reporters from The Securities Daily.

(Editor: Qian Xiaorui)

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