Overview
Bank of China is a state-owned commercial bank providing financial services in local and foreign currencies. Its core businesses include corporate and personal banking and financial markets, alongside services such as investment banking, insurance, asset management and aircraft leasing. Established in 1912, it developed from an institution with central-bank and foreign-exchange roles into a major commercial bank.[1][2]
The Group serves customers across mainland China and 64 overseas countries and regions. At the end of 2025, it reported more than 8.4 million corporate customers, 550 million personal customers and 313,746 employees.[2][3] Bank of China describes serving the real economy as its fundamental mission.[4][5] Group operating income was RMB178.822 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2026.[6] [1][2][4][6][3][5]
Products & services
Bank of China offers corporate and transaction-banking services including accounts, settlement, cash management, financing, cross-border e-commerce settlement and remittance tracking. In the first half of 2026, domestic branches processed USD2.61 trillion of international settlement and RMB11 trillion of cross-border RMB settlement. Its foreign-exchange services include RMB quotations for 45 foreign currencies, forwards and swaps, and risk-management services covering 93 currencies.[7][8]
Personal-banking products include wealth-management products, public mutual funds, insurance, physical precious metals and foreign-currency-denominated investments. At June 2026, the Bank distributed 2,547 personal wealth-management products and 5,335 public mutual-fund products; named offerings included the “Huitou Plan” fund brand and “BOC Investment Strategy” information service. First-half sales included RMB273.446 billion in public mutual funds, RMB26.470 billion in personal-insurance premiums and RMB75.930 billion in physical precious metals.[9] Payment and card services include credit-card instalment financing, debit and social-security cards, foreign-card acquiring and e-CNY wallets and payments.[10][11][12]
Digital services include mobile and online banking, with app features such as time-deposit management, mortgage applications, overseas-account opening, credit-report details and replacement-card tracking. The app had 321.23 million registered customers and 104.28 million monthly active customers at 30 June 2026.[13] FY2025 offerings also included the “BOC Sci-Tech Innovation Computing Power Loan” and integrated technology-business financing combining equity, bonds, insurance and leasing.[14][15] The 2026 first-half report discloses operating income by business segment, rather than by individual product; it does not provide product-level revenue shares.[16] [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
Geographic presence
Bank of China’s 2026H1 report describes an overseas network of 532 institutions in 64 countries and regions outside the Chinese mainland, including 45 Belt and Road partner countries. It also reports coverage of all 21 APEC economies.[17]
For the six months ended 30 June 2026, operating income was RMB281,326 million from the Chinese mainland, RMB60,878 million from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and RMB15,597 million from other countries and regions. These represented approximately 78.8%, 17.0% and 4.4% of total reported operating income of RMB357,113 million, respectively; eliminations were RMB688 million.[18]
At year-end 2025, the bank reported 10,255 commercial banking institutions and 671 other institutions in the Chinese mainland, and 533 institutions in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other countries and regions.[19] [17][18][18][18][18][18][19]
Business segments
For the year ended 31 December 2025, Bank of China reported six business segments. Corporate banking serves corporate customers, government authorities and financial institutions with deposits, loans, payments and settlements, trade finance, foreign-currency and wealth-management services; it generated RMB244,156 million, or approximately 37.0% of consolidated operating income. Personal banking provides retail deposits, personal loans, cards, payments, wealth management and insurance agency services; it contributed RMB260,084 million (39.4%). Treasury operations covers foreign-exchange and derivative transactions, money-market activity, proprietary trading and asset-liability management; it contributed RMB88,791 million (13.5%).[20][21][22][23]
Investment banking includes underwriting, financial advisory, securities trading and brokerage, research, asset management and private-equity services; it contributed RMB9,055 million (1.4%). Insurance comprises general and life insurance underwriting and insurance agency services, contributing RMB32,252 million (4.9%). “Other” includes investment holding, leasing and miscellaneous activities, contributing RMB30,250 million (4.6%). These approximate shares are calculated against total operating income of RMB659,866 million; reported segment figures include inter-segment eliminations.[24][25][26][27][23]
The bank also reports a geographic segmentation: Chinese mainland operating income was RMB503,771 million (76.3%); Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan (China) contributed RMB126,257 million (19.1%), including RMB81,788 million from BOCHK Group and RMB44,469 million from other operations; and other countries and regions contributed RMB31,764 million (4.8%). Shares are approximate and calculated against consolidated operating income.[28][29][30][31] [20][21][22][23][23][23][23][24][25][26][27][23][23][23][28][29][30][31][31][31][31][31][31]
Company history
Bank of China was established on 5 February 1912. It opened its first overseas branch, in London, in 1929, marking an early step in its international expansion.[32][33]
After 1949, the bank became the government-authorized specialist bank for foreign exchange, supporting China’s foreign trade. In 1994, it was restructured as a wholly state-owned commercial bank.[34][35]
On 26 August 2004, it was converted into a joint-stock company, Bank of China Limited. In 2006, it listed shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai, becoming the first Chinese bank to complete a dual A- and H-share listing. That year, it also acquired Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, subsequently renamed BOC Aviation.[36][37][38]
In 2011, Bank of China became the first financial institution from an emerging economy designated a Global Systemically Important Bank.[39] [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][32][33][34][36][37][38][39]
Sources
- BANK OF CHINA — Full financial report (2025 Y)
- pic.bankofchina.com[3]
- www.bankofchina.com[5]
- BANK OF CHINA — Full financial report (2026 Q 1)[6]
- BANK OF CHINA — Full financial report (2026 H 1)
- www.bankofchina.com[32]
- www.bankofchina.com[33]
- www.bankofchina.com[34]
- BANK OF CHINA — Full financial report (2024 Y)[35]
- www.bankofchina.com[36]
- www.bankofchina.com[37]
- www.bankofchina.com[38]
- www.bankofchina.com[39]
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