China Merchants Bank (CMB) (招商银行) is a Chinese commercial bank that was first founded in 1987, and is headquartered in the Futian district of Shenzhen municipality in Guangdong province.
CMB is China’s fifth largest bank in terms of market capitalisation, as well as the first joint-stock bank in the country that is fully owned by corporate legal persons.
The bank was first founded on 8 April 1987 by Hong Kong-headquartered Chinese state-owned enterprise China Merchants Group (招商局集团).
CMG had its origins as the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, a shipping and transportation company founded by the Qing dynasty government on 16 December 1872 as part of the Chinese Self-strengthening Movement.
CMB is considered to be one of the “Eight Banks and Five Insurance Companies” (八行五保) of the Hong Kong financial sector.
On 9 April 2002, CMB was listed as an A-share company on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
On 22 September 2006 CMB was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising a total of 20 billion Hong Kong dollars via the issuance of 2.2 billion H shares.
CMB has 113 branches and 943 sub-branches in more than 110 cities around China, as well 2330 ATM’s.
The bank has also established a branch and representative office in New York, a branch in Singapore, and offices in London and Taipei.
The corporate mission of CMB is to become China’s leading retail bank, and in August 2016 it took 39th place on Fortune China’s list of the country’s 500 strongest companies.
In February 2017, CMB took out 91st place on Brand Finance’s list of the top 500 global brands for 2017.