(Hong Kong, Shanghai, 10 July 2020) Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (“Ping An” or the “Group”, HKEx:2318; SSE:601318) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Ping An Bank Co., Ltd. (“Ping An Bank”) is ranked 46th in The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks, up nine places from last year.

The Banker, owned by Financial Times, is the world’s premier banking and finance resource, read in over 180 countries. It is the key source of data and analysis for the industry. The Top 1000 World Banks list is published annually, recognizing global leaders in the industry for their achievements. Banks are assessed by Tier 1 capital, assets, capital/asset ratio, real profit growth, profit on average capital and return on assets.

The Banker commented, “We can see that China has outperformed even more spectacularly in terms of absolute growth, compared to other Asian countries.”
Other top banks on the 2020 list include: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup and HSBC Holdings.

Maintaining stable and healthy business growth

In 2019, Ping An Bank realized a net profit of RMB28,195 million, up 13.6% year on year, and the growth rate was the highest for the past three years. Ping An Bank made significant progress in its strategic transformation to a retail banking focus. Retail banking’s revenue and net profit recorded 29.2% and 13.8% growth year-on-year, accounting for 58.0% and 69.1% of Ping An Bank’s revenue and net profit, respectively.

Leveraging technology advantages to combat COVID-19

Amid the COVID-19 epidemic, Ping An Bank quickly resumed business through online digital operations. In the first three months of 2020, revenue increased by 16.8% year-on-year to RMB37,926 million. Net profit rose 14.8% year on year to RMB8,548 million. The cost-to-income ratio declined by 1.68 percentage points year on year to 27.94%.

Benefiting from powerful big data credit investigation capabilities and a platform for a risk control model for digital finance, Ping An Bank enables 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week online service and processing via a variety of contactless service channels for mainstream financing products, such as credit, guarantee and mortgage products. Ping An Bank also carried out thorough research among enterprises to implement emergency credit approval procedures for the emergency funding requirements of medical institutions, pharmaceutical and equipment production and supply, construction, material production and supply and transportation enterprises related to epidemic prevention and control. It introduced a fast credit approval process, reserved a special credit scale and offered preferential loan pricing terms to protect the capital needs of enterprises that support coronavirus infection prevention and control.

Supporting sustainable development through green credit system

To support sustainable development, including green industries that drive the low-carbon economy and emission reduction, Ping An Bank has enhanced support for innovation of green financial products. As of the end of 2019, the total green credit line granted by Ping An Bank reached more than RMB57 billion and the loan balance totaled approximately RMB25 billion.

Ping An Bank has continually strengthened compliance inspections and post-loan management for environmental risk customers. It also incorporated the implementation of green credit in the scope of internal control compliance inspections and internal audits. It has also been improving Ping An Bank’s own environmental management, conducting dynamic monitoring and regular analysis of the credit situation for energy savings, emission reduction and elimination of outdated production capacity across Ping An Bank. Ping An Bank also incorporates verification environmental protection information into the overall credit management process.

Mr. Xie Yonglin, President and Co-CEO of Ping An Group, Chairman of Ping An Bank said, “Founded in Shenzhen, Ping An Bank has benefited from the opportunities brought by China’s economic reform. It has achieved rapid development and emerged into a commercial bank with unique retail characteristics and leading technological capabilities. Going forward, leveraging on the two advantages of Ping An Group in integrated finance and technology, we will continue to consolidate our position as a digital bank, an eco-bank and a platform bank, in order to achieve further advancement. We will employ more professional and more inclusive financial services to support the real economy and people’s livelihoods, to remain true to our original aspiration and fulfill our responsibility as a financial institution.”