Among the big Chinese lenders, China Merchants Bank is a relative newcomer, founded in 1987 in Shenzhen. The city – although it wasn’t much of a city back then – was China’s first special economic zone, promoted by Deng Xiaoping as an experimental place to try out elements of market capitalism.
“So we have that in our blood,” says Tian Huiyu, president of China Merchants Bank (CMB).