The 7th China Financial Technology Forum of the China International Fair for Trade in Services was held in Beijing from September 10-11, 2025. The theme was "Technology Empowering Digital Transformation and Application in the Financial Industry." Lv Zhongtao, Chief Technology Officer of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, attended and delivered a speech.
The following is the speech transcript:
Distinguished guests and colleagues:
Good day everyone. I am honored to participate in this Financial Technology Forum and discuss with new and old friends the topic of technology empowering digital transformation in the financial industry. I have just listened carefully to the presentations by several experts and was deeply inspired with great gains. Now, from the perspective of an industry practitioner, I would like to share my understanding and thoughts based on ICBC's practical experience.
Since the Central Financial Work Conference, banking institutions have accelerated digital transformation around the "digital finance" strategic deployment to support digital economy development. Looking ahead to the "15th Five-Year Plan," promoting high-quality development of digital finance remains a "must-answer question" for commercial banks, requiring us to summarize experiences from past practices, clarify development directions, and identify implementation paths. Therefore, ICBC has combined its own transformation exploration in recent years with the latest development trends in digital finance to summarize experiences in technology-enabled digital transformation, and I would like to share and exchange with colleagues on this occasion.
First, we must adhere to customer-centricity and enhance high-quality financial service supply.
Finance is a service industry, and "customer-centricity" has always been the core concept of financial development. In the digital era, digital technology has significantly enhanced financial productivity, and the production and supply relationships in the financial sector have undergone profound changes. The channel perspective has shifted from "more is better" to "less is more," the product perspective has changed from "one-size-fits-all" to "tailor-made," and the customer perspective has evolved from the "80-20 rule" to the "long tail effect." Facing these new characteristics, banking institutions must adaptively adjust their practical approaches to being "customer-centric," actively promoting "touchpoint integration, service aggregation, and operational integration." Through these "three integrations," we can enhance high-quality digital financial service supply to better meet the growing financial needs of all customers.
First is strengthening touchpoint integration. We build "fewer but better" core digital financial service platforms, constructing an open and shared financial ecosystem through going out and bringing in, seamlessly embedding financial services into life and production scenarios, and expanding the temporal and spatial dimensions of financial services. In recent years, ICBC has focused on building three external platforms: mobile banking, open banking, and e-life, as well as three internal platforms: counter connectivity, marketing connectivity, and e-office. Service touchpoints have been further focused and converged, and the accessibility of financial services has been further enhanced. Open banking, in particular, is the main battlefield for future external expansion of financial services. ICBC actively conducts "Digital Partner Journey" activities, strengthening empowerment in key scenarios such as inclusive finance, pension, and education, with partnering customers exceeding 70,000.
Second is strengthening service aggregation. We fully leverage the financial service advantages of being a full-function bank, the integrated service advantages of domestic and overseas coordination, the non-financial service advantages of banking technology subsidiaries, and the open and diversified ecosystem service advantages. We rapidly integrate financial and non-financial services around customer needs to provide customers with comprehensive service solutions. For example, ICBC has built a global treasury service system around enterprise digital transformation needs. While outputting financial products, it also introduces non-financial services from ecosystem partners such as industry cloud products. Currently, signed customers have cumulatively exceeded 10,000.
Third is strengthening operational integration. We adhere to the business philosophy of serving all customers with all products, building a "digital" customer segmentation operation system. Internally, through the "field allocation" mechanism, we optimize the establishment of responsibility relationships between customers, institutions, and employees, streamlining internal operational chains. Externally, we proactively connect with platform enterprises, channeling customers to financial scenarios through external ecosystems to improve operational effectiveness. Since the first half of the year, through digital operations, both individual long-tail customers and corporate bottom-tier customer asset increments have achieved significant growth.
Second, we must adhere to dual-factor drive of data and technology to innovate and develop new financial productivity.
On one hand, data elements, as new production factors, are an important foundation for scientific quantification in business decision-making, risk management, and customer operations. As an industry with deep data application, banks urgently need to accelerate the integration and innovation of internal and external data as internal data grows rapidly and external data is accelerated introduction, converting data elements more effectively into business value. For data elements, banking institutions should construct efficient value application chains for data collection, data production, and data application, enhancing data support capabilities for scientific decision-making and empowering applications, promoting data transformation from resources to products to business value.
Therefore, ICBC continues to strengthen big data platform construction, forming a "one lake, two warehouses" layout, actively building cross-sector business wide tables to support efficient data usage. We actively build a data middle platform to supply various data products and services such as indicators, reports, and models for the entire bank. Around four major sectors: marketing empowerment, risk control empowerment, operational empowerment, and decision empowerment, we build intelligent data application systems based on system development or AI and BI tools, connecting the entire process of "data, insights, decisions, actions."
On the other hand, digital technology is the core innovation element accelerating transformation and an important driving force for business model and service model transformation. Currently, we are in an accelerated explosion period of artificial intelligence innovation, with new technologies represented by AI large models accelerating integration into all areas and processes of enterprises. As a technology-intensive industry, banks must accelerate research and innovation in digital technology to enhance their operational efficiency. For digital technology, banking institutions must promote infrastructure construction, system architecture transformation, and rapid application of cutting-edge technologies from bottom to top, forming value chains that support rapid transformation and application of technological achievements, accelerating the conversion of technological innovation into real productivity for banking institutions to empower business development.
Therefore, ICBC actively builds technology-driven innovation engines, focusing on new technology fields such as cloud computing, distributed systems, blockchain, big data, and artificial intelligence. We have launched ten independently controllable fintech technology systems, forming leading enterprise-level technical capabilities and business application capabilities. Particularly, in response to the AI large model development wave, we were the first in the industry to build a full-stack, independently controllable enterprise-level trillion-parameter financial large model technology system "ICBC Smart Surge," achieving large-scale empowerment for over 20 major internal business areas including financial markets, assets and liabilities, internal control and compliance, covering hundreds of scenarios.
Third, we must adhere to "three collaborations" to accelerate innovation and transformation of development models.
First is deepening business-data-technology collaboration. Digital finance is driven by data elements and digital technology, with business, data, and technology becoming the "iron triangle" of financial innovation in the new era. Facing new trends in financial innovation, banking institutions must reconfigure and re-optimize innovation elements such as innovation organizations, innovation processes, and innovation subjects.
To improve innovation efficiency, ICBC has innovated the "open competition" innovation breakthrough mechanism, releasing a series of special lists to address transformation challenges, encouraging backbone personnel from business, data, and technology fields to collaborate in tackling problems, and incentivizing dozens of projects that have produced results, achieving good implementation effects.
Second is deepening sector collaboration. Sector collaboration is the fundamental guarantee for coordinating and managing bank operating elements and enhancing comprehensive customer service capabilities. Banking institutions should aim to integrate and connect core operating management elements such as products, funds, and risks, constructing enterprise-level "three centers" for marketing decisions, fund allocation, and risk prevention and control. From a global perspective of all markets, all products, and all risks, they should collaboratively serve all customers to promote their own business development needs.
In marketing decisions, ICBC is actively constructing customer-product alignment relationships, upgrading the "product factory," and continuously strengthening marketing service capabilities for rapid product configuration based on customer needs. In fund allocation, ICBC has initially completed construction of a new generation group asset-liability intelligent management system, supporting precise fund allocation across regions and improving operating resource management efficiency. In risk prevention and control, ICBC has built an enterprise-level intelligent risk control platform ERM5.1, enhancing cross-market and cross-risk transmission monitoring and early warning, which has been promoted and applied in domestic branches.
Third is deepening headquarters-branch collaboration. Branches are key nodes for digital transformation implementation. In promoting transformation, we must strengthen headquarters' "strategic coordination" while also emphasizing branches' "localized execution." Through building platform-based branch transformation tools, integrated branch capability centers, and service-oriented branch service support systems, we support frontline operations in truly converting transformation results into customer service quality and market competitiveness.
ICBC has built four major support platforms for branches: "data usage, connection, outreach, and operations," focusing on key business priorities for branch digital transformation, providing unified tools and handles for branch digital transformation. This supports branches in more conveniently using data to empower intelligent operations and management, enhances branches' ability to quickly connect customer scenario needs through API services, enriches branch customer outreach channels, supports branches in conducting various operational activities, iterating operational strategies, and promoting branches to carry out digital transformation according to local conditions.
Fourth, we must adhere to building security and talent foundations to consolidate the foundation for high-quality development.
On one hand, we must maintain group-integrated security bottom lines. Fintech risks have typical "barrel effect" characteristics, with overall security capabilities limited by the weakest link. Any risk occurring in branch institutions may produce spillover effects, impacting overall group security. Banking institutions must establish group-integrated security management concepts, create group technology and network risk management views, improve agile response mechanisms for technology risks, and construct penetrative security management systems that are "visible, distinguishable, and controllable," enhancing group risk warning, emergency repair, and immunity capabilities.
ICBC focuses on building group-wide online technology asset management, production operation management, and network security situation management "three platforms" and "three views," achieving visibility and controllability of group-wide technology risks. Meanwhile, we enhance the practical operational capabilities of network security teams and increase offense-to-defense efforts.
On the other hand, we must promote quantitative and qualitative improvement of digital finance talent. Talent is the primary resource and the foundation driving digital finance development. Digital finance places higher requirements on talent professionalism, versatility, and innovation. Banking institutions should focus on building large-scale, well-structured, and high-quality composite digital finance talent teams, improving talent strategic layouts.
In recent years, ICBC has fully utilized talent value, dispatching technology backbone personnel to business lines and branch institutions for exchanges through ITBP methods, cultivating composite talents proficient in both technology and business. We have established a core digital finance talent pool, standardizing and regularizing the cultivation and appointment of digital talents, continuously stimulating technology innovation vitality.
The above represents my understanding and thoughts on technology-enabled banking digital transformation paths. In the future, ICBC hopes to strengthen cooperation with all parties, jointly build an open and win-win financial ecosystem, jointly explore data element value, jointly conduct technological research, and work together to promote digital finance innovation and development. Thank you all!