This year's Central Economic Work Conference proposed "adhering to domestic demand as the main driver and building a strong domestic market," and emphasized "deepening the implementation of special actions to boost consumption and formulating and implementing plans to increase the income of urban and rural residents. Expanding the supply of high-quality goods and services."
"Historical and international experience shows that as a country's economy matures, the improvement in both the quantity and quality of residents' consumption will become an important driving force for economic growth and structural upgrading," said Dong Ximiao, chief researcher at Zhaolian and deputy director of the Shanghai Financial and Development Laboratory, in an interview with the Financial Times.
Since the beginning of this year, various regions and banking financial institutions have continued to promote innovation in consumer credit products to fully meet residents' consumer credit funding needs. Looking ahead to 2026, experts interviewed generally believe that consumption growth will mainly be supported by further policy support and the accelerated release of the potential of service consumption.
The combined effect of measures to boost consumption continues to emerge.
With the Central Economic Work Conference listing "adhering to domestic demand as the main driver and building a strong domestic market" as the primary task for next year's economic work, the importance of financial support for stimulating consumption is becoming increasingly prominent.
On December 12, the Ministry of Commerce, the People's Bank of China, and the State Financial Regulatory Commission jointly issued the "Notice on Strengthening Business and Financial Coordination to Boost Consumption with Greater Efforts" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which proposes 11 policy measures in areas such as commodity consumption, new types of consumption, consumption scenarios, and county-level consumption.
In November of this year, six departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the People's Bank of China, issued the "Implementation Plan on Enhancing the Matching of Supply and Demand for Consumer Goods and Further Promoting Consumption" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"). The Plan proposes strengthening fiscal and financial support, enriching consumer finance products and services, and enhancing the adaptability and convenience of consumer finance services.
As can be seen, a comprehensive "combination punch" to boost consumption, led by top-level design and coordinated by local governments and financial institutions, is being launched. Recently, several banks, while conveying and studying the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference, disclosed their next steps and related measures to promote consumption.
Bank of China stated that it will actively cooperate in implementing the special action to boost consumption and the plan to increase the income of urban and rural residents, comprehensively meeting the diverse consumption needs of residents. China Construction Bank stated that it will accelerate the upgrading of its product and service system, further promote the special action for consumer finance, and better meet the diverse and differentiated financial needs of the people. Postal Savings Bank of China stated that it will fully support the expansion of domestic demand, serve the special action to boost consumption and the plan to increase the income of urban and rural residents, and increase the issuance of consumer loans.
"Banking institutions need to align with policy guidance and focus on upgrading traditional consumption, expanding service consumption, and cultivating emerging consumption. On the demand side, they should improve product design and user experience, while on the supply side, they should conduct research and connect with enterprises to build 'one-stop' services, thereby further releasing the potential of domestic demand in the economy," said Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher at Suxi Intelligence.
Bank promotional activities inject vitality into the consumer market
Since the beginning of this year, many banks and local regulatory authorities have responded quickly to policies aimed at boosting consumption, injecting strong momentum into stimulating the potential of the domestic consumer market through various means such as increasing credit issuance, innovating service models, and providing fiscal subsidies.
According to the Financial Times, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has been actively promoting the implementation and effectiveness of the government's consumer loan interest subsidy policy. From the policy's implementation until the end of November 2025, ICBC has cumulatively issued nearly 100 billion yuan in personal consumer loans; it has signed up nearly 1.6 million customers for interest subsidy services, and has processed interest subsidies for over 20 million transactions. These measures have effectively reduced residents' financing costs and significantly stimulated the accelerated release of consumer demand.
In addition, ICBC has launched over 200 promotional and benefit activities, including "ICBC Love Shopping" and "100 Cities, 10,000 Stores," focusing on scenarios such as shopping, cultural and tourism travel, sports events, overseas consumption, and convenient payment. As of the end of November, credit card spending reached RMB 1.68 trillion, and acquiring transaction volume reached RMB 2.61 trillion. ICBC also prioritizes support for the national consumer goods trade-in program, conducting "Joining Hands with National Subsidies to Boost Consumption" themed marketing campaigns in categories such as home furnishings, home appliances, and digital products, and undertaking over 300 government-subsidized consumption activities through the ICBC e-Life App.
With the year-end peak season for consumption approaching, many banks are launching a series of consumer promotion activities.
Postal Savings Bank of China Guangzhou Branch has partnered with Meituan platform to launch an exclusive discount promotion. From now until December 31, 2025, cardholders who bind their Postal Savings Bank credit cards for the first time will receive a discount of up to 6 yuan, and a random discount of up to 66 yuan will be given on purchases of 0.11 yuan or more.
Bank of Communications' "Welfare Season" campaign has gained momentum again, launching the "Year-End Carnival - Claim Massive Amounts of Colorful Benefits" event, combining online and offline consumption scenarios to further unleash market consumption potential. It is reported that the "Welfare Season," a signature consumer benefit program created by Bank of Communications, has further increased its discounts, continuously innovated its activity formats, and iterated and optimized the payment experience this year. Simultaneously, in conjunction with policies such as trade-in programs and national subsidies for digital home appliances, it has launched various themed customer activities. A total of 102 million customers participated in the "Welfare Season" activities throughout the year, injecting new vitality into the market.
Financial innovation targeting service consumption
"From the perspective of improving people's livelihoods, boosting consumption can better meet people's needs for a better life," said Dong Ximiao. He added that boosting consumption holds vast potential for consumption transformation and upgrading. With rising income levels and changing consumption concepts, residents' consumption demands are no longer limited to basic living needs, but rather place greater emphasis on service quality, experience, and personalization. The consumption structure is rapidly shifting from commodity consumption to service consumption, with demand for culture, tourism, education, healthcare, and elderly care growing rapidly.
Going forward, how should the banking industry innovate financial services to cater to consumer needs? How can it accurately address diverse demands and truly unlock the deep potential of the consumer market?
It should be noted that, compared to goods consumption, service consumption remains a weak point in my country's consumption sector.
Since the beginning of this year, financial regulators have held multiple symposiums with financial institutions to guide them in fully meeting the effective credit needs of the real economy, leveraging the incentive role of service consumption and pension relending, and supporting financial institutions in increasing credit to key service consumption sectors such as accommodation and catering, culture and entertainment, education, residential services, and tourism. Data shows that as of the end of September 2025, the outstanding balance of loans in key service consumption sectors nationwide reached 2.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.9%.
The Bank of China Research Institute, in its "Economic and Financial Outlook Report for the Third Quarter of 2025," noted that with the aging population trend, demand for elderly care services and healthcare has increased significantly. Young consumers' growing enthusiasm for new consumption experiences such as cycling, camping, and skiing has become a new driving force for the growth of service consumption.
Lou Feipeng, a researcher at China Postal Savings Bank, suggests that going forward, banking institutions need to further strengthen their understanding of boosting consumption, fully utilize support policies, and increase innovation in financial products and service models; fully leverage the convenience brought by digital finance, further develop online consumer finance, and improve consumers' access to financial services; actively integrate into various consumption scenarios, promptly meet consumers' reasonable financial needs in specific scenarios, and improve consumers' satisfaction with financial service experiences; and while providing good financial services to consumers, focus on increasing the supply of high-quality consumer goods to improve the quality of consumption.
