In 1987, China Merchants Bank (CMB) was founded in Shenzhen. CMB is the first commercial bank in China founded by an enterprise. Rooted in China Merchants Inheritance and Shekou Gene, CMB started with a registered capital of RMB100 million, one business outlet and 34 employees. It has now evolved into a banking group listed in both Shanghai and Hong Kong, with a leading position in global banking by Tier 1 Capital, and financial licenses covering commercial banking, financial leasing, fund management, life insurance, overseas investment banking, consumer finance, wealth management subsidiary, and financial asset investment, etc.

As of the end of 2025, CMB had 143 branches (including Free Trade Zone branch, etc.) and 1,801 sub-branches, covering over 130 cities in Chinese mainland. For overseas markets, CMB had six branches and one representative office. The total number of group employees was nearly 121,600. CMB ranked 8th globally by Tier 1 capital on the list of "Top 1,000 World Banks" released by The Banker (UK), and had made the Fortune Global 500 list for 14 consecutive years.

In recent years, CMB has been guided by the strategy of building a value creation bank, adhered to the operating philosophy of "coordinated development of quality, profitability and scale", and deeply cultivated a high-quality growth model driven by "adopting strict management, upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground". CMB has accelerated transformation through "the Internationalisation Initiative, the Comprehensive Operation Initiative, the Differentiation Initiative, and the Digitisation and Intelligence Initiative", focused on strengthening hard power and enhancing soft power. Its distinctive and specialised advantages have been continuously consolidated; market competitiveness has been further enhanced; and high-quality development has reached a new level.