With the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, as well as profound changes in customer behavior and the market environment, digital transformation has become a key engine for the high-quality development of banking financial institutions and the creation of new productivity.
As the transformation enters a more complex phase, the demand for digitalization from banking financial institutions has long since moved beyond the initial simple addition of technologies. Instead, it is shifting towards a higher-level, more interconnected, and broader-coverage financial ecosystem.
From laying the foundation to empowering business operations, this profound transformation, driven by technology and centered on customers, is striding forward from local pilot explorations to a comprehensive and in-depth advancement across the entire process and system. China's banking industry has entered an accelerated track of digital transformation.
Upgrading core systems lays the foundation for transformation and development.
"The banks of the future will inevitably be digital banks." Huo Xuewen, Chairman of Bank of Beijing, stated at the bank's 2025 interim results briefing that this was a key reason why banking institutions are rushing to implement digital transformation.
Those who wish to build a house must first lay a solid foundation. The deepening of digital transformation cannot bypass the upgrading and innovation of the underlying core systems. In other words, the key to the digital transformation of the banking industry lies in leveraging technology to reshape its core business, thereby improving operational efficiency, enhancing customer experience, and breaking through market barriers.
Since the beginning of this year, many banks have launched or further optimized their new generation core systems. The technology foundation, characterized by distributed, cloud-native, and self-controllable features, has been implemented in one bank after another and has quickly demonstrated its effectiveness.
At the beginning of this year, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) upgraded and launched its smart banking ecosystem, ECOS 2.0, a digital technology ecosystem that represents a new leap forward in the construction of a digital ICBC. "Building upon the open ecosystem concept of ICBC's ECOS 1.0 smart banking system, ECOS 2.0 places greater emphasis on data and technology as key drivers," according to an ICBC official. Around the "five transformations" of ICBC—intelligent risk control, modern layout, digital momentum, diversified structure, and ecological foundation—ECOS 2.0 focuses on upgrades in five aspects: flexible architecture, digital integration, security and reliability, cloud infrastructure, and R&D efficiency, injecting more digital momentum into cultivating new productive forces and serving high-quality economic and social development. For small and medium-sized banks, core system upgrades are also considered a "secret weapon" for breaking through development bottlenecks. In April 2025, Urumqi Bank's new core system went online. "The process of building the new core system is a challenging journey for Urumqi Bank to proactively embrace change and take digital transformation as a strategic engine for reshaping its core competitiveness and moving towards high-quality development," said Liang Bo, a member of the Party Committee and Vice President of Urumqi Bank.
Drive the release of data element value
Data is a new type of production factor and a core element of the digital and intelligent transformation of banking financial institutions. By 2025, the banking industry will have made significant breakthroughs in data governance, data assetization, and intelligent applications. Digital transformation will no longer be limited to the electronic presentation of data reports, but will instead focus on building an intelligent decision-making system covering the front, middle, and back offices.
When you walk into a bank branch, a robot customer service representative will proactively approach you to communicate and understand your business needs; on mobile banking, AI customer service is available 24/7 to provide professional guidance... The once ubiquitous banking service is becoming a reality with the development of digital technology and data elements.
In-depth data mining is a major highlight of Bank of Communications' digital transformation. "The enterprise-level data service system built by Bank of Communications can proactively connect with the national credit lending platform and big data institutions across the country, accessing over a hundred national data items and dozens of regional data categories," said a relevant person in charge at Bank of Communications. Through continuously deepening the circulation, sharing, and integrated application of data, dormant data has been transformed into liquid assets, providing a basis for decision-making in precise services and intelligent risk control.
In the field of risk management, intelligent risk control models based on massive amounts of data have become a valuable tool for risk control management in banking and financial institutions.
"Ningxia Bank has taken digital transformation as a key lever to build a new generation of credit risk management system based on the integration of data and intelligence," said Dai Yuanjun, General Manager of the Financial Technology Department of Ningxia Bank. He added that in the field of credit risk management, Ningxia Bank has carried out in-depth systematic innovation and digital construction practices, achieving the "four comprehensives and four unifications" goal of credit risk management. This has not only significantly improved economic and social benefits but also provided valuable experience for the digital transformation of small and medium-sized banks.
Redrawing the boundaries of banking services
The deepening digital transformation of the banking industry has allowed financial services to gradually break free from traditional spatial limitations and become ubiquitous.
In Guangzhou, students lined up in the cafeteria to pay with facial recognition and buy fragrant salt-baked chicken for lunch; in Tianjin, elderly customers independently operated mobile banking to skillfully check their pension payments; in Hangzhou, small and micro-enterprise owners easily scanned a QR code to apply for loans through the "Inclusive Finance e-Station" online service platform in one stop...
These everyday scenarios vividly illustrate how the Agricultural Bank of China, relying on its digital operations platform, integrates precise and convenient financial services into the daily lives of hundreds of millions of customers.
"During the '14th Five-Year Plan' period, the Agricultural Bank of China actively promoted the deep integration of financial services with high-frequency life scenarios such as education, government affairs, and transportation, and actively built an integrated 'finance + life' service ecosystem," an Agricultural Bank of China official told the Financial Times.
In terms of empowering enterprise development, banking financial institutions can also leverage the momentum brought by digital transformation. While banks are undergoing digital transformation, their service models are also evolving towards a "commercial banking + investment banking + ecosystem" model.
"We hope to play an important role in digital empowerment, supporting entrepreneurs, connecting social resources, and working together to serve high-quality development, so that the entrepreneurial spirit can play a better role in the combination of social and industrial innovation and technological innovation," said Zhang Weizhong, Party Secretary and Chairman of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.
