Competitive Strengths

Well-positioned to Capitalize on China's Future Growth in Both Urban Areas and County Areas

As a leading bank in China's Urban Areas, we have leveraged our extensive distribution network and large customer base to further strengthen our market position in the Urban Areas. At December 31, 2020, our loans and deposits in the Urban Areas totaled RMB 9,865,137 million and RMB 11,618,417 million.

We are a primary provider of financial services and a market leader in China's vast, fast developing County Areas. At December 31, 2020, our loans and deposits in the County Areas totaled RMB 5,305,305 million and RMB 8,754,484 millio.

Extensive Nationwide Offline Channels Complemented by Online Channels and Remote channels

We have a nationwide distribution network. As of December 31, 2020, we had a total number of 22,938 domestic branch outlets.

As at the end of 2020, the total number of personal mobile banking customers reached 0.036 billion, and the transaction volume in 2020 was RMB75.96 trillion. The total number of corporate mobile banking customers reached 2.96 million, and the transaction volume in 2020 was RMB1.60 trillion. The number of registered customers in personal internet banking was 356 million, and the transaction volume in 2020 reached RMB29.8trillion. The number of customers of the corporate financial service platform reached 8.31million, and the transaction volume in 2020 reached RMB212.2 trillion. We had 75.7 thousand sets of cash-related self-service facilities and 24.3 thousand sets of self-service terminals, and the number of daily average transactions was 13.18 million in 2020.

In 2020, our all-media customer service (including voice, online and video) reached customers of 203 million.

Large and Diversified Customer Base Providing Significant Growth Potential

As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately 7,992.9 thousand corporate customers, of which approximately 327.9 thousand customers had outstanding loans from us. As of the same date, we also had approximately 8,359.6 thousand corporate RMB settlement accounts.

We believe that we have the largest retail banking customer base in China. At 31 December 2020, the total number of our retail customers amounted to 0.86 billion, the balance of retail loans of the Bank amounted to RMB 6,198,743 million. At the end of 2020, the number of debit cards cumulatively issued by the Bank amounted to 1,098 million, the number of credit cards1 cumulatively issued reached 0.13billion. At the end of 2020, the number of our private banking customers reached 141 thousand and the balance of assets under management amounted to RMB1,696 billion.

Strong Deposit Base Providing Stable and Low-cost Funding

As of December 31, 2020, we had deposits of RMB 20,372,901 million.

Our retail deposits accounted for 59.3% of our total deposits at December 31, 2020. Our large retail deposit base provides us with a stable source of funding.

We have a greater percentage of demand deposits within our deposit mix. Demand deposits accounted for 55.2% of our total deposits at December 31, 2020. Having deposits primarily consisting of demand deposits enables us to maintain a lower cost of deposits compared to other commercial banks in China.

The Financial Service Ability with the Feature of Diversification, Integration and Internationalization

We own excellent investment management capability. At 31 December 2020, non-restructuring-related debt securities investments amounted to 7,074,042 million, which presents our leading market maker position in the inter-bank bond market.

We own comprehensive asset management capability. As of December 31, 2020, we had RMB 10,105,008 million of assets under custody. As of the same date, the balance of our wealth management products amounted to RMB 2,027,727 million.

Our integrated service capability is increasingly improved. We have established an integrated operation platform covering fund management, securities and investment banking, financial leasing, life insurance, debt-to-equity swap and wealth management business.

Our cross-border financial service capability is continuously strengthened. In 2020, the total volume of international settlement conducted by the domestic branches reached USD 1.11 trillion. As of the end of 2020, the total assets of our overseas branches and subsidiaries reached USD 144.46 billion.

Stable and Continuously Innovative FinTech

In 2020, the number of daily average transactions handled by our core systems reached 836 million and the highest number of daily transactions reached 1,085 million. The utilization rate of our core systems during major business hours reached 99.99%, maintaining stable and sustainable service operating capabilities.

We strengthen the tracking, research, and introduction of frontier technologies related to FinTech, such as mobile internet, AI, block chain, Big Data, cloud computing, cyber security. We continuously increase FinTech innovations and application to boost innovations in products, services, and business models to effectively empower our digital transformation strategy. In 2020, the total investment in IT amounted to RMB18.3 billion.