Bank of Communication’s Credit Card Business Faces Asset Quality Pressure in Retail Credit Downcycle

Striving to become China's leading wealth-management bank, Bocom is building its international presence and developing a wide range of financial service businesses. The bank achieved solid progress in the transformation, as evidenced by its growing retail customer base, customer assets under management, and a booming credit card business, leveraging its solid customer base in the affluent Yangtze River Delta. Its deposit base remained weaker than those of moaty peers, resulting in higher funding costs. We expect Bocom still has a long way toward its goal of being a leading wealth management bank.