China CITIC Bank

China CITIC Bank
中信银行

Type	Public
Traded as	: : 0998
Industry	Banking
Founded	1998
Headquarters	Hong Kong, China
Area served	Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Key people	Kong Dan, Chairman Tian Guoli, CEO
Revenue	US$24.37 billion
Net income	US$4.92 billion
Total assets	US$474.73 billion
Owner	CITIC Group
Number of employees	34,589 (2013)
Parent	CITIC Group
Website	bank.ecitic.com

Kong Dan, Chairman

China CITIC Bank (simplified Chinese: 中信银行; traditional Chinese: 中信銀行; pinyin: Zhōng Xìn Yínháng) is China’s seventh-largest lender in terms of total assets. It was known as CITIC Industrial Bank until it changed its name in August 2005. China CITIC Bank, established in 1987, is a nationally comprehensive and internationally oriented commercial bank. The bank operates in almost 130 countries, and maintains a strong foothold on the mainland banking industry. The bank operates 78 branches in the mainland, and 622 sub-branches, located in economically developed regions of China. In total, there are 773 branch offices in China, as of Q4 2011.

In 1984, the chairman of CITIC group at the time, Rong Yiren, requested that the Chinese government create a banking division under his company, in order to fully embody the needs for foreign exchange. This move was approved by the People's Bank of China, and a banking division was created under CITIC group in April 1985. At this point, the bank was based on the original finance department, expanding its operations regarding external financing, foreign exchange transactions, loans, international settlement, finance leases and deposits. In April 1987, the bank was formally established as a separate legal entity, following approval from the People's Bank of China and the Chinese State Council.

China CITIC Bank's businesses flourished in the first decade of the 21st century. In July 2000, CITIC bank became the first bank in China to be certified by the China Financial Certificate Authority for online banking. In July 2002, the bank improved its international standing by ranking 291st on the "Top 1000 World Banks" list released by The Banker magazine of the United Kingdom, ranking within the top 300 for the first time. In November 2006, the bank welcomed its first major foreign investment, when BBVA, the second largest bank in Spain, became a major shareholder. This move established a co-operative relationship. On 27 April 2007, China CITIC Bank was listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.