The 2019 annual reports of around a dozen Chinese banks point to considerable efforts to step up spending and development of fintech.
The tech staff teams of China’s big six state-owned banks plus six joint-stock banks collectively exceeds 80,000, with ICBC and China Construction Bank both employing over 10,000 tech personnel.
Fintech staff numbers at 12 listed Chinese banks in 2019
| Bank | Tech staff |
| ICBC | 34,800 |
| China Construction Bank | 10,200 |
| Bank of China | 8,000 |
| Ping An Bank | 7,500 |
| Agricultural Bank of China | 7,400 |
| Shanghai Pudong Development Bank | 3,900 |
| Bank of Communications | 3,500 |
| China Merchants Bank | 3,300 |
| China CITIC Bank | 3,200 |
| Industrial Bank Co. | 1,900 |
| China Everbright Bank | 1,500 |
| China Zheshang Bank | 800 |
Over 20% of staff at Ping An Bank are in tech, making it the Chinese lender with the largest share of tech employees. Ping An Bank’s tech staff also saw growth of over 34% in 2019, while China CITIC Bank’s saw a rise of 56.2%, and China Merchant Bank’s an increase of 62.4%.
Tech staff as percentage of total employees at 12 listed Chinese banks in 2019
| Bank | Percentage of staff in tech |
| Ping An Bank | 21.87% |
| ICBC | 7.82% |
| Shanghai Pudong Development Bank | 6.69% |
| China CITIC Bank | 5.58% |
| China Zheshang Bank | 5.43% |
| Bank of Communications | 3.94% |
| China Merchants Bank | 3.84% |
| China Everbright Bank | 3.38% |
| Industrial Bank Co., Ltd. | 3.16% |
| China Construction Bank | 2.94% |
| Bank of China | 2.58% |
| Agricultural Bank of China | 1.58% |
Chinese banks also spent heavily in tech in 2019, with 13 lenders collectively investing over 100 billion yuan, and four of the big state-owned banks making tech outlays of over 10 billion yuan each.
Fintech investment of 13 Chinese banks in 2019
| Bank | Fintech investment |
| China Construction Bank | 17.633 billion yuan |
| ICBC | 16.374 billion yuan |
| Agricultural Bank of China | 12.79 billion yuan |
| Bank of China | 11.654 billion yuan |
| China Merchants Bank | 9.361 billion yuan |
| Postal Savings Bank of China | 8.18 billion yuan |
| Bank of Communications | 5.975 billion yuan |
| China CITIC Bank | 4.9 billion yuan |
| Shanghai Pudong Development Bank | 4.12 billion yuan |
| Ping An Bank | 3.597 billion yuan |
| Industrial Bank Co. | 3.565 billion yuan |
| China Everbright Bank | 3.404 billion yuan |
| Huaxia Bank | 2.656 billion yuan |
Fintech investment by Chinese banks was in general around 2% of revenue, although at Agricultural Bank of China it breached 5%.
Fintech investment as a share of operating revenues for 13 listed Chinese banks in 2019
| Bank | Fintech investment as share of operating revenue |
| Agricultural Bank of China | 5.43% |
| China Merchants Bank | 3.47% |
| Huaxia Bank | 3.13% |
| Postal Savings Bank of China | 2.96% |
| China CITIC Bank | 2.61% |
| Ping An Bank | 2.61% |
| Bank of Communications | 2.57% |
| China Everbright Bank | 2.56% |
| China Construction Bank | 2.50% |
| Shanghai Pudong Development Bank | 2.16% |
| Bank of China | 2.12% |
| Industrial Bank Co. | 1.97% |
| ICBC | 1.91% |
At least nine Chinese banks had established their own fintech subsidiaries as of the end of 2019, including three of the big state-owned lenders.
Fintech subsidiaries established by Chinese banks
| Bank | Fintech Subsidiary | Time of registration | Registered address | Registered capital |
| Bank of China | Bank of China Tech | June 2019 | Shanghai | 600 million yuan |
| Bank of Beijing | Bank of Beijing Tech | May 2019 | Beijing | 50 million yuan |
| ICBC | ICBC Tech | March 2019 | Xiong’an New District | 600 million yuan |
| Huaxia Bank | Longying Zhida (龙盈智达) | May 2018 | Shenzhen | 21 million yuan |
| China Minsheng Bank | Minsheng Tech | April 2018 | Beijing | 200 million yuan |
| China Construction Bank | Jianxin Jinke (建信金科) | April 2018 | Shanghai | 160 million yuan |
| China Everbright Bank | Everbright Tech | December 2016 | Beijing | 200 million yuan |
| China Merchants Bank | Merchant Bank Yunchuang (招银云创) | February 2016 | Shenzhen | 50 million yuan |
| Industrial Bank Co. | Xingye Shujin (兴业数金) | November 2015 | Shanghai | 500 million yuan |
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