Welcome to China. Wish you health and joy. 老板娘, 你好。 哎, 来啦。 这回点水呀。 my. Mm, delicious. Hey, don't, make some room. 中银香港推出数字人民币服务。 人们的脚步总是匆忙, 可曾怀疑过前路的方向? 听起来像是我们的旧时搬家了吧。 这次不一样了, 这次是我们自己买的。 可有一盏灯, 不再让你漂泊。它的烟火心唱着。 来, 拿给我吧。 place in your heart? 欢迎我们的新同学杨希。 to meet everyone. 明天。 尊敬的... Investors, analysts, and friends from the media, good afternoon. Welcome to the Bank of China 2025 interim results press conference. I am Chengwen Zhuo, Board Secretary of Bank of China. Today's press conference will be co-hosted by me and Ms. Yu Ke, Bank of China spokesperson. In light of recent major event preparations in Beijing and considering everyone's schedules and participation preferences, this press conference will be conducted via live broadcasting webcast. We extend a warm welcome to all participants joining online. Firstly, allow me to introduce the Bank's leadership in attendance: Mr. Hui Zhang, Vice Chairman and President of Bank of China; Mr. Zhao Cai, Vice President; Jian Wu, Vice President; Jun Yang, Vice President; and Chenggang Liu, Member of the Party Committee. Additionally, Madam Ran Zhang, Representative of our Bank's Independent Directors, is also participating online. Our 2025 interim results have been publicly announced today. The presentation materials are available for download on our official website or can be viewed on the live streaming page. All financial figures mentioned today, unless otherwise stated, are prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Today's agenda consists of two segments: results presentation and Q&A session. First of all, let me invite Mr. Hui Zhang, President of Bank of China, to present our interim results. Dear investors, analysts, and friends from the media, good afternoon. Welcome to Bank of China's 2025 interim results press conference. Thank you for your longstanding trust, attention, and support for the Bank of China, Bank of China. Please allow me first to briefly introduce Bank of China's operating performance for the first half of 2025 and the full-year outlook. Subsequently, together with the attending members of the senior management team, we will engage in in-depth discussions and exchanges on the topics you are concerned about. The senior management team members were already introduced to you. You may notice there are some new faces, and we have a stronger leadership now at the senior management team of Bank of China, and please rest assured you will have higher returns as investors. Since the beginning of this year, Bank of China has thoroughly implemented the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee, solidly advanced various management and operational tasks while serving high-quality economic and social development, achieving positive results. First, steady progress in financial performance. The group achieved an operating income of RMB 329.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.61%, with net fee income growing 9.17% year-on-year. Post-tax profit reached RMB 126.1 billion, and post-tax profit attributable to the bank's shareholders was RMB 117.6 billion, remaining stable year-on-year, with the trend of change continuously improving compared to the first quarter. The NIM stood at 1.26%. The ROA was 0.7%, the ROE was 9.11%, and the cost-to-income ratio was 25.11%, all maintained within reasonable ranges. Second, steady growth in assets and liabilities. Total assets reached RMB 36.79 trillion, an increase of 4.93% from the end of last year. The proportion of high-yielding assets, such as loans and bond investments, increased by 2.32 percentage points. Total liabilities amounted to RMB 33.66 trillion, an increase of 4.85% from the end of last year. The proportion of customer deposits to total liabilities increased by 0.7 percentage points. The market competitiveness of RMB-denominated average daily deposits domestically has improved year-on-year, and the leading advantage in foreign currency deposits has expanded. Third, improved quality and growth in customer base. The number of total corporate customers, total individual customers, and the total financial assets of individual customers steadily increased. Customer structure optimized, with the number of medium-sized corporate credit customers offering higher comprehensive returns increasing by 13.48% from the end of last year, and the proportion of mid-to-high-end individual customers rising by 0.16 percentage points. Fourth, solid and effective risk prevention and control. Asset quality remained stable, with the NPL ratio at 1.24%, down by 0.01 percentage points from the end of last year. The NPL coverage ratio was 197.39%. The bank was among the first to complete the replenishment of RMB 165 billion in Core Tier 1 capital. The Core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio and capital adequacy ratio reached 12.57% and 18.67%, respectively, up by 0.7 percentage points and 0.69 percentage points from the end of last year before the capital increase, laying a more solid foundation for Bank of China's medium to long-term development. Fifth, continuous commitment to shareholder returns. We formulated and implemented market value management measures, focusing on stable operations to continuously create long-term investment value for shareholders. Efficiently completed the interim and financial final dividends for 2024, with a total distribution of RMB 7.36 billion. The board meeting held today proposed an interim dividend for 2025 of RMB 1.094 per 10 shares, totaling RMB 35.25 billion, maintaining a high payout ratio of 30%. Specifically, in the first half of the year, Bank of China proactively addressed the new situations, responded to new challenges with solid and effective measures, and seized new opportunities with an innovative spirit, achieving new breakthroughs in its own high-quality development, mainly reflected in the following five aspects. First, continuously optimized the financial service supply, fully supporting high-quality real economy development. By the end of June, RMB loans issued by domestic institutions increased by RMB 1.41 trillion from the end of last year, up 7.72%. We increased the financial support for key areas, such as two major projects and new three initiatives. The balance of equipment renewal loans exceeded RMB90 billion. Loans directed to the manufacturing sector grew by 12.99% from the end of last year, and loans to strategic emerging industries increased by 22.92%. We actively supported initiatives to boost consumption, with personal consumption loans growing by 15.42%. We adhered to the two unwavering, supporting the development and growth of the private sector, the private economy, with loans to private enterprises increasing by 12.93% from the end of last year. We helped stabilize the real estate market, meeting rigid and upgraded housing demand. We supported the healthy and stable development of the capital market, with credit services for listed company stock repo, and increased plans in maintaining a market-leading position. Second, we solidly executed the five key areas of finance, supporting the development of new quality productive forces according to local conditions. We seized the market opportunities, such as AI and M&As of tech enterprises. We innovated technology finance products like computing power loans. The balance of technology loans reached RMB4.59 trillion. The number of credit customers among technology enterprises exceeded 160,000. Comprehensive services provided cumulatively exceeded RMB 780 billion. The intended scale of the CITEC Innovation Final Fund exceeded RMB 50 billion. The balance of green loans increased by 16.95% from the end of last year. Green bond investment and underwriting scale remained the highest among Chinese financial institutions. We solidly advanced the implementation of the financing coordination mechanisms for small and micro enterprises. The balance of inclusive loans of SMEs reached RMB 2.65 trillion, with the number of borrowing enterprises surpassing 1.72 million. The number of credit customers and coverage rate for national and provincial level little giants, specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products led the market. We further increased the financial support for the pension industry, ranking high in the market in terms of the number of enterprises, the number to individual accounts, and the scale of enterprise unit custodial funds. Digital finance accelerated business empowerment, deepening the application of new technologies like AI. The number of MAU of personal mobile banking grew by 8.59% year-on-year. Consumption volume by digital RMB remained a market-leading position. We fully leveraged global presence and comprehensive operations to support high-level opening up. We further increased the financial supply for stabilizing foreign trade. The volume of international settlement handled by domestic institutions exceeded $2.1 trillion, up 16.5% year-on-year, maintaining a market-leading position in international trade settlement business. We proactively served new forms of foreign trade, formulating service loans to service plans to support cross-border trade facilitation. The total transaction volume of cross-border e-commerce increased by 42.1% year-on-year. The leading advantage in cross-border RMB business remains solid. The number of direct and indirect participants in the cross-border interbank payment system, CIPS, and the number of RMB clearing banks remained the highest among peers. Cross-border RMB clearing volume exceeded RMB 560 trillion, maintaining a global leading position. We actively served the going global and bringing in strategies guided by the eight actions for high-quality Belt and Road Cooperation. We supported major landmark projects and small yet smart livelihood programs. We ranked the first in underwriting volume for panda bonds, Chinese offshore bonds, and offshore RMB bonds. The full market size of cross-border custody continues to rank first among Chinese financial institutions. Overseas commercial banking accelerated transformation and development with continuous optimization of the asset and liability structure, overall improvement in basic product service capabilities, and strengthened IT support. Operating income and pre-tax profit for the first half of 2025 increased by 9.02% and 10.88% year-on-year, respectively. Comprehensive operations improved in quality and efficiency, with core business indicators of several subsidiaries advancing. BOC Wealth Management moved up two places to rank first among the Big Four banks. BOC Aviation's owned fleet value ranked first in Asia. BOC International's IPO underwriting ranking rose to sixth in the market. Fourthly, balanced the development and security, fully preventing and mitigating financial risks. We deepened the comprehensive risk management system, conducted forward-looking control of various risks, and strengthened systematic risk prevention. We enhanced the credit asset quality management, steadily progressing NPL resolution, improved the quality and efficiency of recovery and disposal, and maintained reasonable and sufficient risk buffer levels. We strengthened overseas risk management to ensure the safety of overseas assets and personnel effectively, responding to financial market fluctuations. Proactively conducted special stress tests in key areas. Fifth, we accelerated digital transformation, continuously improved the group's technological operation level. We consolidated basic technological capabilities solidly, advanced the infrastructure and construction, with the total number of servers in the group's cloud platform reaching 40,000. We deepened the innovative application of new technologies, released the AI application and promotion work plan, and utilized the large model LLM technology to empower over 100 scenarios across the bank. We also deepened efforts to reduce the burden on grassroots levels, with enterprise-level RPA covering over 3,300 scenarios. Going forward, BOC will continue to focus on its main responsibilities and businesses, fully leverage its global presence and comprehensive operations, solidly advance its own high-quality development while serving the real economy, and lay a solid foundation for the conclusion of the 14th five-year plan period and the commencement of the 15th five-year plan period. First, we will optimize financial supply and improve the diverse and professional product and the service system. We will actively serve domestic demand expansion, consumption promotion, and investment stabilization. We will increase credit allocation to key areas and weak links. We will support enterprise production operation and job stabilization and expansion through finance. BOC will continuously improve the product and service system, highly adaptable to new quality productive forces. We will focus on the overall goal of building modern people's cities, supporting the stable and healthy development of the real estate market through finance. Second, we will leverage advantages and characteristics to enhance global layout capabilities and international competitiveness. We will strengthen financial support for key regions and areas of Belt and Road Cooperation. We will improve the quality and efficiency of services for Chinese enterprises going global and foreign investment coming into China. We will support the construction of the RMB clearing network and expand the leading advantage in cross-border RMB clearing. We will fully meet customers' diversified investment and financing needs in a low-interest rate environment and enhance the adaptability and competitiveness of comprehensive financial services. Third, we will focus on risk prevention and control and firmly guide the bottom line in preventing systematic financial risks. Fourthly, we will strengthen asset and quality management, enhance forward-looking control of market risk, improve the quality and efficiency of internal control and compliance management, accelerate digital transformation, continuously consolidate the foundation for high-quality development, and deepen the application of new technologies like AI, agilely respond to market and customer needs, accelerate product innovation and promotion. Friends, facing a complex and changing internal and external environment, all employees of BOC will unite and overcome difficulties and make progress to repay the trust and support of our customers, investors, and all sectors of society with stable operating performance. Thank you, and your questions are more than welcome. Thank you, President Zhang. Now we move on to the Q&A session. In order to enable more participants to have opportunities to ask questions, please limit yourself to one question each. Before posing your question, please state your name and institution. Meeting assistant, please take the first question. Can I ask the question? Sure. Thank you. Thank you for giving me the first opportunity. Scarlett Bian from UBS Investment Bank. First of all, I would like to congratulate Bank of China for achieving very prudent results in the first half of the year. Since the beginning of this year, the bank has faced a complex and changing macro environment. How does the management evaluate your performance in the first half of the year? Just now, President Hui Zhang has mentioned key areas of work for Bank of China. Given the latest domestic and international situation, what's your business objective and strategy for the future? Thank you very much for your continued interest in Bank of China's operation strategy. I will address this question to Mr. Zhang. Thank you for your question. Just now, I have given you a comprehensive introduction of the business risk results. I've mentioned that in the first half, the financial benefits of Bank of China were steady, and the assets and liabilities have a steady growth. We have done a good job in risk control and improved the quality and quantity of our customers, and this has been fully recognized by everyone here. How do we see the results of the first half of this year? I think there are five areas. First, we have fully implemented our responsibility as a state-owned major bank. We have implemented the spirit of the Central Politburo Committee meeting on April 25th, focused on the two majors and two new areas, and play a bigger role in serving the real economy. In terms of fulfilling our responsibilities as a major state-owned bank, Bank of China has made our own contribution and efforts. It has laid a very good foundation for our continued business growth. For example, the RMB loans of domestic institutions increased by RMB 1.41 trillion. Our loans to mid-to-long-term loans to the manufacturing sector and to the business sector have outpaced our peers. We've also implemented the consumer support policy, and the loans for trade-in consumption have increased nearly threefold compared with last year. In technology finance, our new financing has exceeded our peers. This is the first thing. Second, we have consistently created very good shareholder returns. Ever since Bank of China's listing after the joint stock reform, Bank of China has delivered over RMB 940 billion of dividends. Since 2015, the dividend ratio has remained at 30%, which is very high. Investors fully share the business results of Bank of China, especially since the beginning of this year. We have overcome the difficulties and challenges to promote high-quality transition in a low-interest environment, and the operating income increased by 3.61% year-on-year and is expected to maintain at this good level among the state-owned banks. Third, we have actively seized the market opportunities brought about by the changing external environment. Actually, this has brought a lot of opportunities for the transition of commercial banks like us. We have seized the opportunities of implementing a package of financial policies, and we have introduced a series of comprehensive service plans for AI and the going global of businesses. We've also seized the opportunities of the recovery of the capital market, and we have built the open wealth management platform and developed the wealth management business. These fees from the wealth management business have also achieved rapid growth and outpaced the market. This has also hedged the insufficient credit demand and also helped us address the profit and income difficulties in the low-interest income. Number four, continue to consolidate our global advantages. We have consistently enhanced the resource input for the overseas institutions. Now we cover 64 countries and regions and established a financial service network of one access and global response. In the first half of this year, we have consistently optimized the one bank, one policy strategy for overseas institutions, and the profit contribution of overseas institutions reached 29.76%, up by 2.12 percentage points year-on-year. Number five, we have strictly observed the bottom line of risk compliance. We have been among the first banks to complete the replenishment of RMB 165 billion of Core Tier 1 capital. We have improved and deepened the comprehensive risk management system development and have maintained a very good and reasonable level of risk compensation capabilities. We've also improved the overseas risk shock response mechanism and have carried out exercise for responding to extreme scenarios so that we can better control risks for the overseas institutions. In the second half of the year, we face some shared pressures and challenges as our peers, but we are competent to address those challenges and to achieve steady operation results. I think it can be seen from three aspects. First, in the domestic low-interest environment, this is our common challenge. We will have to continue to improve our asset-liability structure and further expand the non-interest income. Second, the Federal Reserve will probably start the interest cut, so we need to seize this window period and make sure that the overseas business will make a more contribution to our overall business. Third, we will continue to address the risk pressures from inclusive finance and consumer finance. We need to strengthen risk control in key areas so as to ensure asset quality and control risks. Just as you have mentioned, in the interim results release, I have talked about eight insists. We will continue to follow this strategy to carry out our operation work. I would like to highlight the following for your reference. First, consolidate our advantages to improve our global competitive advantage. We need to leverage our competitive advantage of global layout to offset the low-interest rate environment so that our global business will make a greater contribution to the group. As you can see, in the first half of the year, our global advantage has played a very important role in offsetting the risks of the external environment. In the future, we will improve our global financial markets business, global financial institutions business, and accelerate capacity building for the global custody services so as to nurture new growth points for our business and make us more competitive globally. Second, we need to maintain our net interest income. We need to consolidate the customer deposit base and increase the size of low-cost deposits. We need to seize the market opportunities offered by the wealth management businesses and further increase our total financial assets. We also need to reduce the cost of liabilities so that the low-cost customer deposits and the comprehensive income will play a greater role. We need to expand to more medium-sized credit clients and improve the return on assets. We need to be flexible in bond investment so as to increase their contribution. Third, coordination for better comprehensive services. We need to establish a comprehensive asset management platform for the group so as to meet the investment and financing needs of the customers in a low-interest environment. We need to dive deeper into the Hong Kong market because we have a lot of advantages in the Hong Kong market. We need to fully leverage that, especially investment, insurance, and the comprehensive capabilities. Also, we need to establish a technology finance ecosystem so as to expand our early mover advantage in patient capital. Number four, we need to maintain a high contribution of the non-interest income. We need to accelerate strategic transition and promote the development of non-interest businesses so as to ensure relatively rapid growth. For personal business, we need to establish an open wealth management platform covering the whole group and full markets. For corporate business, we need to seize opportunities of bond issuance, mergers and reorganizations, and the public REITs so as to expand the income for the M&A consultants and seize the opportunities in market volatilities and make sure that the financial market business makes a greater contribution to the group's value. Number five, reduce cost and increase efficiency. We need to focus on intensive operation that is strong front desk, intensified middle desk, and efficient back end so as to optimize business procedures and risk control. Second, we need to strengthen the granular management of the financial cost, focus on resource guarantee in key areas, and remain committed to strategic and benefit orientation so as to improve the efficiency of investment. Number six, we need to make sure that we have prudent operation. We need to enable digital and smart transformation of the risk management. The management has developed relevant plans, and we are implementing those plans. Just as you have pointed out, inclusive finance, consumer finance has some key risk areas, and we need to strictly control the new NPLs and strengthen substantive collection and enhance asset quality control for key accounts. Also, we need to strengthen compliance control for overseas institutions to improve the efficiency and quality of internal control and compliance management. Number seven, remain target-oriented to optimize customer and business structure. For corporate clients, we need to expand more mid-sized clients and strengthen the digitalized operation system so as to dig deeper into those clients that offer high comprehensive value. For financial institutions' business, we need to have granular management and operation to target more international clients. For retail clients, we should target high net-worth individuals and leverage our global advantages to play a better role in the asset allocation for those high net-worth individuals. This is also an important way to expand our low-cost liabilities. In terms of business structure, we need to focus on the five key areas. For example, technology finance, we need to create an ecosystem. For green finance, we need to have more credit supply for the high-speed railway in green buildings operation. For inclusive finance, we need to strengthen the financial coordination mechanism for small micro businesses. For pension finance, we need to enrich our product offerings for the senior citizens. For technology and digital finance, we need to promote digital transformation. We also need to improve our government financial services to create a unique model of Bank of China in serving the government financial needs. Number seven, number eight, we need to empower our business through digital technology and enhance our basis of self-controlled technology. Just as you have heard, Bank of China and its branches and subsidiaries have made a lot of attempts in digital empowerment and have yielded very good results. At the group level, we are actually spreading and promoting these practices and have yielded good results. We strengthen the application of new technologies such as AI to improve the efficiency of customer services and management. In the first half of this year, China's capital market has recovered, and both the Shanghai and the Shenzhen stock markets have rallied and bottomed out. Bank of China has the confidence and capabilities to leverage this capital market recovery to create more value for the investors. I hope that the investors will continue to pay attention and support Bank of China. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Zhang. Next question, please. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I'm Zhang Shuai from CICC. We know that we are in a low-interest environment, and net interest income is under a lot of pressure. That makes non-interest income even more important. Could you give us a briefing of the core drivers of the non-interest income growth in the first half of the year? Also, give us an outlook for the trends in the second half of the year. Will this trend continue? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Zhang, from China International Capital Corporation Limited. I would like to invite Vice President Zhao Cai to answer this question on non-interest income. Thank you for your question. In the first half of this year, the group achieved a net interest income of RMB 114.6 billion, including net fee income of RMB 46.8 billion. As the domestic commercial bank with the highest level of internationalization and comprehensive operations, net interest income such as fees accounts for over 30% of operating income. As Vice President Zhang has mentioned just now, its contribution to the group has been steadily increasing in recent years, playing a positive role in hedging the impact of interest rate cuts domestically and overseas. According to our analysis, this was mainly attributable to the following aspects. First, seizing capital market opportunities to grow wealth management income by serving customers' asset allocation needs, proactively optimizing business deployments, and expanding total customer financial assets, serving the national strategy and policies, our wealth management income continued to grow. Domestically, focusing on the common prosperity goal and prioritizing customer experience, our fund distribution fees increased by 4%. Wealth management product distribution fees grew by 3.3% with us as the agent, and precious metals income rose by 37%. In addition, the impact of the unified reporting and implementation policy for personal agency insurance was gradually absorbed with significant improvement in distribution volume and fee trends. Meanwhile, capitalizing on the active Hong Kong stock market and warming investment environment, agency fees for insurance, stocks, funds, etc. in Hong Kong and Macau institutions doubled. Investment banking and asset management comprehensive company fees, as well as insurance service income from insurance comprehensive companies, both achieved double-digit growth. Second, optimizing comprehensive financial services to stabilize the basic fee income base. We consistently emphasize customer and account expansion, continuously strengthening the business foundation. Domestic corporate settlement fees increased by 5.8%. We closely followed the national proactive fiscal policy and served customers' financing needs. Our bond underwriting fees grew by 25.3%. Leveraging advantages in foreign trade and foreign exchange business, personal international settlement fees rose by 13%, and spot forex settlement fees increased by 2.2%. Thirdly, capturing financial market opportunities to maintain contributions from other non-interest income, serving customers' capital preservation needs amid interest and exchange rate fluctuations, expanding client fund trading business, driving steady growth in the group's net trading income. We have aligned with the trends in domestic and foreign currency bond markets opportunities, and we prudently conducted operations, dynamically optimized the investment portfolio structure, which has led to stable growth in the group's financial investment income. Going forward, as macro policies become more proactive and effective, economic growth momentum and vitality will recover faster, and financial consumption behaviors, such as wealth management and payment settlements by residents and enterprises, will become more active, presenting opportunities for the development of BOC intermediaries business. We will closely focus on customer needs, prudently grasp market conditions, and maintain stable and healthy development of in-interest business. We will work hard on three aspects. First of all, wealth management. We will actively adapt to the positive trend in capital markets, adhere to the concept of synergized operation of total financial assets, leverage the advantages and channel resources of both markets, that is onshore and offshore markets, strengthen asset allocation services, and enhance all-round revenue generation capabilities. We will enrich the whole group plus whole market open wealth management platform, vigorously expand fund distribution, agency insurance, wealth management products, and precious metals business, achieving value win-win results for customers and the bank. In terms of settlement business, we will focus on growing account management and settlement needs of market entities. We will strengthen the full chain service capability of transaction banking, capitalize on the favorable environment of marginal recovery in consumer demand, enhance the market competitiveness of fast payment products, and steadily increase the contribution of anchor type income. In terms of the financial markets business, we will fully seize the opportunities presented by RMB internationalization, improve emerging market currency services, and the offshore RMB product system, and strengthen market maker functions. We will provide exchange rate risk management and cross-border investment and financing services, capture the expansion opportunities of global asset management industry in the low-interest rate environment, and increase income from forex settlement, international settlement, and custody business. We will enhance our adjudication of macroeconomics and market trends, balance risk and returns, and seize business opportunities amid market fluctuations. Thank you. Now, the next question. Senior Management members, thank you for the opportunity to ask a question. I have a question about NIM. The low-interest rate environment is a challenge faced by the entire industry. Since the beginning of the year, BOC's management has implemented a series of solid and effective measures. Can you give us an outlook on the NIM trend in the second half of the year? Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm from JPMorgan. Yeah, I know you, Madam Li. Yes, low-interest rate environment is a big challenge faced by the entire industry. Just now, when President Hui Zhang made the presentation, he also mentioned that point. Now, let's invite President Hui Zhang to address the question. Thank you for your question. Yes, the NIM of commercial banks has always been a focus of attention. In recent years, the NIM of the domestic banking industry of China has generally narrowed significantly, and BOC's NIM performance target is no worse than main comparable peers. Now, we have realized the target. I know that you are concerned with this question because compared with our comparable peers, our NIM is slightly lower than theirs. First of all, if you look at the change trend in the first half of this year, our NIM is 1.26%, down 14 basis points year-on-year, and down 3 basis points from the first quarter. If you look at the quarter one and quarter two changes, it is a large narrowing margin trend. That is the trend. When you pay attention to the, when you follow the operations of BOC, you need to pay attention to the advantages and characteristics of BOC. You should not only pay attention to NIM, but also the overall changes in our income and performance. As Vice President Zhao Cai responded to the previous question, compared with comparable peers, BOC's non-interest income percentage in our income is higher, more than one-third. In the first half of this year, the percentage reached 34.79%. That is a very good level compared with our peers in Chinese mainland. For overseas institutions, non-interest income growth trend is very good. In the first half of the year, the growth was more than 70% year-on-year, playing a positive role in achieving greater shareholder value. While the operating income is not showing a very favorable picture, this income still increased by one-third in terms of the operating income. You should pay attention to the overall changes in the income and performance of Bank of China instead of only paying attention to NIM. Of course, NIM is the fundamental indicator for a bank, and we have made strategic arrangements. First, we need to guide the bottom line of NIM. In the first half, we hedged against the impact of the low-interest rate environment. We have conducted forward-looking analysis and taken effective measures. First, we increased asset allocation to enhance fund utilization efficiency. Credit allocation maintained steady and balanced growth, with RMB loans from domestic institutions increasing by RMB 1.41 trillion from the beginning of the year, over RMB 200 billion more than the same period last year. At the same time, we seized opportunities in domestic and international markets and increased bond investments. The proportion of bond investments in interest-earning assets rose by 2.4% year-on-year. Our second measure was we continuously optimized the liability structure to effectively reduce liability costs. The scale of low-cost customer deposits with market competitiveness improved for three consecutive years. Third, we have fully leveraged the global advantages to strengthen centralized management of foreign currency funds. With U.S. dollar interest rate cuts, we dynamically adjusted active financing strategies, and we have also smoothed the channels for domestic and overseas fund utilization to fully utilize the benefits of domestic low-cost deposit funds and improve the efficiency of foreign currency fund utilization. Through these measures, Bank of China's asset-liability structure continued to optimize, pricing capabilities kept improving, achieving coordinated development of both volume and price. As I have mentioned, entering the second quarter, the month-on-month decline in NIM narrowed significantly. Overall, at present, the main reasons for the NIM decline are the continuous downward trend of LPR since last year, and also another factor is the adjustment of the existing mortgage rates. The third factor is the fast interest rate cuts, which led to a faster decline in asset use compared to liability cost. It should also be noteworthy that in our operational strategy, Bank of China (BOC) fully leveraged its advantages in financial market, foreign exchange business, and actively managed asset liability mismatches in different currencies through forex swaps. This indicator is having a lot of impact on NIM. With the same standard, we calculated the NIM will be increased by 3 basis points from 1.26%. The year-on-year decline would be similar with the whole industry's trend. Looking ahead to the second half of the year, from the external market perspective, the domestic banking industry as a whole faces a low-interest rate environment, and expectations of U.S. dollar interest rate cuts are heating up. The banking industry's NIM will still face certain narrowing pressures. BOC will be based on its own asset-liability structure and business characteristics and fully mobilize various positive factors to play a supportive role in the NIM. First, we'll continuously strengthen deposit and loan management to effectively hedge against the LPR decline pressures. As the RMB time deposits gradually mature and are repriced, the positive impact of declining liability costs of BOC will gradually emerge, effectively hedging against the downward pressure on RMB asset yields. On the other hand, BOC will continue to optimize its product structure. We will intensify efforts in expanding key business, such as payroll services, fast payments, and third-party depository services, and grow the scalable cost of deposits. Such measures are already yielding results. I'm sure that the low-cost liability scale will be expanded. In terms of the loan business, as I have mentioned, for corporate customers, we will further enhance the strategic expansion of the customer base of medium-sized businesses and also the income from corporate customers. In terms of the individual customers, we'll also enhance personal asset management development so that we can increase the overall level of loan pricing. BOC will also actively implement regulatory requirements and ensure self-discipline. We will resist disorderly competition. This will be conducive to the deposit's interest-bearing results and the overall improvement of loan and deposit situation. Second, we should seize the opportunity of high interest rate in the U.S. and increase our investment in foreign currency demand-oriented bonds to improve the efficiency of foreign currency fund utilization. We are ahead of our peers in terms of our domestic foreign currency deposits. In the future, we will seize this window opportunity and increase our investment in foreign currency bonds and enrich the investment types. Third, leverage our global operation advantages and stabilize the NIM for the group. We will leverage the leading role of the Hong Kong and Macau region and encourage other key overseas institutions to leverage their local market advantages and dynamically adjust their business strategies as they respond to the market interest rate changes, consolidate the foundation for local operation development, and improve the market competitiveness of the main business so as to make a greater contribution for stabilizing the group's NIM. Overall, we should fully seize the opportunities offered by the market and be more proactive, timely, and targeted in our management and operation to properly respond to the impact of the low-interest environment so as to promote the high-quality development of the group. Thank you. Thank you, President Zhang. Let's move on to the next question. Thank you for the opportunity. I'm Yi Jing from GF Securities. My question is about asset quality. Since the beginning of this year, the pressure points for BOC's asset quality, are there any changes about that? What's your outlook for the future? As for the key industry capacity governance, what is BOC's credit strategy, credit exposure, and asset quality? Okay, Mr. Jian Wu, please answer this question. Thank you for your question. Since the beginning of 2025, BOC has strengthened the proactive management of credit risk and improved our granular management of the risks. In particular, we have improved the efficiency of asset quality and management. We have done a good job. As of the end of June, the NPL ratio of the group stood at 1.24%, down by 0.01 percentage points over last year's end, and provisioning coverage ratio was 197.39%. We have reasonable risk compensation capability. Now, the pressure mainly comes from three areas. First, domestic corporate business, mainly the property market risk. From the perspective of new NPLs, the real estate market remains the biggest source of new NPLs. A substantive new NPL has slowed down. As the policies on both the supply and demand end of the real estate market take effect, we expect that the real estate market will hit the bottom and rally out. Second, for retail business, in the first half of the year, the retail operation loan and consumer loan NPL has increased year on year. We expect the asset quality will continue to face pressure for some time to come, and we have taken some measures. That is, we've strengthened the whole process risk management. Also, for such assets, we will have better expectations management. The third part is about the overseas business. In the first half of this year, the new NPL has declined a little bit, but we are still cool-headed because in the second half of the year, there are still uncertainties in the external environment. BOC will continue to strengthen the risk judgment, prediction, response, and resolution in key areas and regions, and strengthen the differentiated support for the premium clients and promote the high-quality development of the overseas business. Looking into the second half, we expect that China's economy will continue to see steady growth and development, and BOC will continue to strike a balance between development and security. We are confident to maintain high-quality and stable development of the group's assets in 2025. As for your second part of your question, for the new policy requirement issued by the State Council, and after the Central Economic and Financial Affairs Committee's meeting in July, the Politburo has put forward the requirement to crack down on the unorderly competition of the businesses and promote the capacity governance of key industries. For BOC, we mainly focus on the key industries such as NEVs and PV panels. We have timely adjusted and optimized our credit policies and strategies. We remain committed to a market-based and law-based business development and risk management philosophy so as to address the structural conflicts. There are several key points. First, implement differentiated strategies for key industries. There are support and there are control measures. For companies with premium capacities, we will provide support for them. For the backward capacities, we will strictly control the credit supply. Second, we support mergers and reorganizations within the industry so as to strengthen the consolidation of the lead companies. Third, support the transition, upgrading, and technological innovation of the key industries. Focus on key technology breakthroughs and the nurturing of new growth points so that the industry will become more high-ended. Now, the overall size of credit extended to key industries at Bank of China is reasonable, and asset quality is stable. In the future, we will continue to follow the requirement of the nation's industry policies and continue to help address the structural problems in key industries and ensure the steady quality of the assets while preventing risks. We will also actively pay attention to business opportunities of industry consolidation and M&As to achieve better business development for ourselves. Thank you. Next question, please. Thank you for the opportunity. My question is about credit extension and credit growth. After the capital injection, will Bank of China adjust your credit growth plan for the whole year? Which areas do you think the credit demand will come from for the second half of the year and how to conduct credit supply? Thank you for your question. Mr. Yang will answer the question for you. Thank you for your question. In the first half of the year, Bank of China has actively implemented the macro control policy requirement and worked hard to improve the efficiency of financial sectors serving the real economy. The credit extension has achieved a steady growth. As of the end of June, our domestic RMB loan has increased by RMB 1.41 trillion over year beginning, up by RMB 200 billion. In June, we have completed the capital replenishment. Core Tier 1 capital is the main pivot for the banks to serve the real economy and achieve high-quality development. Judging from past experiences, the injection of Core Tier 1 capital has a leverage effect. Every RMB 1 of core capital can enable several types of credit supplies. For the long run, this capital injection will enable us to better inject dynamism for the real economy with more sufficient capital strength, better financial services, and more effective risk control. As the proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy continue to be implemented, we believe that market vitality will continue to increase, and we will fully leverage the business opportunities brought by the capital injection and follow the existing plans to conduct our credit extension work. While maintaining the steady and balanced growth of the total credit supply, we will further improve the fund utilization efficiency and the level of financial services to consolidate our customer base and the reserve of premium projects. We should focus on the five key financial services areas and consolidate the good recovery of the economy. First, strengthen our technology finance capabilities. Establish a coordination mechanism to establish a three-dimensional network coverage capabilities, professional equity investment capabilities, differentiated credit support capability, and diversified financing and fundraising capabilities to create an ecosystem for the technology innovation services. Second, to promote infrastructure project development. We'll actively participate in the signature projects and support the upgrading and transition of the manufacturing sector so as to provide strong support for the transition of new and old drivers. Third, consolidate the advantage in green finance. Focus on green technology, energy conservation, and decarbonization, and green transportation. Optimize products and services and innovate the carbon extension collateral loans and transition loans. Fourth, to provide financial services to stabilize foreign investment and foreign trade. We will work with the Ministry of Commerce to build this brand of investing in China and hold relevant promotion and publicity activities to implement the multinational comprehensive financial services programs. Number five, to promote better quality and efficiency of the consumer loans, to support the trade-in programs and the national subsidies expansion, and provide financial services for the trade-in policies for consumer products, and make sure that the policy dividends will directly reach the consumers and make our contribution for unleashing the consumption potentials. Number six, implement the coordination financing cooperation mechanisms for the real estate sector, implement the spirit of the Central Urban Meeting Conference, effectively improve the competitiveness of the new home loans and also for the second home loans to meet people's housing needs for elastic needs and improving needs, and also introduce relevant procedures for micro and small businesses and effectively help better financing for the SMEs and micro businesses so as to provide high-quality and effective financial services for the finance. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Yang. Next question, please. Hello, everyone. I'm Xu Yan from Morgan Stanley. My question is about global operation over the past two years. The BOC's advantages in global operation have been fully reflected in your performance results, which has won the recognition of the market. However, given the increasing uncertainties of the external environment, how can we better understand the differentiated features and outlook of BOC? Also, can you share with us BOC's global operation status and development strategy from the perspective of regional layout and business categories? Indeed, global operation is our advantage and draws the attention of the investors. Mr. Zhang will give you an answer. Thank you. Thank you for your attention and your question. Globalization is BOC's most prominent differentiating advantage. It's like our biggest highlight. Over the past 130+ years, BOC has always adhered to the concept of global development, forming our own unique characteristics and advantages. Going forward, we'll continue to adhere to this strategy that is global operations and accelerate our efforts. In the mid-year, we had a conference on global operations. We stated that we'll continue to insist on this strategy. It is a core strategy for us. That is also how we will serve our real economy, diplomacy, and international development. This is also a task for us to have our own development. You have mentioned that over the past two years, globalization differentiating advantages has given us a lot of benefits. Yes, indeed. After efforts in the first half of the year, BOC's global development has achieved further new breakthroughs. The operating income and pre-tax profit of overseas institutions increased by 14.43% and 10.29% year on year, respectively. Their contribution to the group was 23.77% and 29.76%, respectively. Going forward, Bank of China will continue to enhance its global deployments and international competitiveness and continuously consolidate and expand its global advantages. Of course, what investors are interested in is the global external environment and the interest rate cut trend and their impact on our globalization advantages. We have made forward-looking arrangements, and we work on the following six aspects to cope with such risks and challenges. First, accurately navigate the characteristics of different regional markets and strive to create a new global pattern with Hong Kong and Macau as the main body and support multi-pillar development. We will continuously consolidate the advantages of being a leading mainstream bank in Hong Kong and Macau, expand and strengthen Bank of China Hong Kong business, and make the integrated development of Southeast Asia the top priority of the group's global operations. Starting from 2017, Southeast Asian region began to be led by Bank of China Hong Kong. Hong Kong is our regional headquarters, which not only serves the Hong Kong region but also the Southeast Asian region. Bank of China Hong Kong will play its role as a mainstream bank so that its capabilities in different fronts can further empower the development of Southeast Asia. Its role in this regard is gradually playing out, and we will continue to strengthen our efforts in this regard. We will take into consideration the different characteristics of different regions to have high-growth regions development like the Middle East, Southeast Asia, America, etc. Second, we will continuously strengthen domestic overseas interactions and seize the major opportunities of China's high-level opening up. RMB has become the world's fourth-largest payment currency and the third-largest trade financing currency, coupled with the restructuring of global supply chains and trade relations. This brings broad market opportunities for Bank of China's global operations. Bank of China will proactively leverage the coordination effects and income complementarity of domestic and overseas business, promote overseas with domestic, support domestic with overseas business, coordinate internally and externally, and have good interactions with our global operations to effectively enhance the group's overall financial stability and growth resilience. Thirdly, we will actively promote the diversification of the group's business and expand and strengthen financial institution and financial market businesses. We will increase marketing and expansion of financial institution customers, comprehensively enhance comprehensive customer service capabilities, increase customer asset allocation, and expand financial institution customers' bond investment, trading scale, and foreign exchange trading volume, so that we can continuously improve the comprehensive value contribution of financial market business, optimize bond investment structure, enhance global customer group quotation service capabilities, and consolidate and expand the competitive advantage of leading Chinese peers. We hope that we and financial institutions that share complementarity with us in terms of business and customers can work together with each other in the first half of the year. Together with some commercial banks, we are making full use of cross-border connect to empower other Chinese-funded peers so that we can have win-win results. At the same time, together with leading insurance groups, we have further conducted joint services to develop new products involving both commercial banks and insurance companies. This work is going on and has yielded preliminary results. Fourthly, we will enhance comprehensive financial services and accelerate the development of global custody capabilities. We will continuously increase resource investment, enhance the basic product service capabilities of overseas institutions, and continuously improve the comprehensive financial service system. In the first half of this year, Bank of China has formulated the three-year development plan for overseas custody business. We will accelerate the improvement of our custody network, ensure the continuous improvement of the custody product service system and operational efficiency, and continuously expand its absolute leading position among comparable peers. You know, amidst the current environment, overseas custody business has a huge market, and we have an early-comer advantage. We are forward-looking, and we have anticipated such market changes. Previously, we have already made our plan for expansion in this regard. We are confident that within three years, we will be able to build up our capability similar to that of Western developed banks or even on par with them. Fifthly, accelerate the promotion of RMB internationalization and continuously expand market leading advantages. We will seize the window period of RMB financing cost advantages, leverage, and attract customers to prioritize the use of RMB in trade financing and project loans and promote the formation of a closed-loop model of RMB financing, settlement, and repayment. We will strive to secure more RMB clearing bank qualifications and enhance the performance capabilities of RMB clearing banks. Sixth, strengthen risk compliance management to ensure the safety of overseas assets. We will dynamically carry out overseas risk assessment and investigation, deeply analyze weaknesses in overseas risk prevention and control, targetedly optimize risk management mechanisms and processes, and ensure no mechanism management shortcomings. We will promote the digital and intelligent transformation of risk management, accelerate the application of new technologies, further enhance overseas compliance risk management capabilities, and firmly hold the bottom line of preventing systematic risks. Looking back, after many years of global operations, Bank of China has continuously enhanced its global development capabilities, and global business has continuously made important contributions to the group's development. Going forward, we will continue to work hard and expand global operations to ensure asset safety. Global operations have continued to contribute to the Bank of China performance, not just in the past two years. In the current low-interest rate environment, global development is not only a responsibility entrusted by the country to Bank of China, but also a top priority for Bank of China's high-quality development and for us to win customers, markets, and the future. We'll go all out to seize opportunities and continuously expand and strengthen global business and make the century-old Bank of China golden brand shine brighter. Thank you. Due to the time constraint, that's all for the questions from investors and analysts. I would like to thank all the investors and analysts for your long-term attention and support. Thank you for the past exchanges. If you have any further questions or inquiries, please contact our investor relations teams after this part. Now, I invite Ms. Yu Ke, Spokesperson of Bank of China, to host the media Q&A session. Thank you. Thank you, Board Secretary Mr. Zhuo. Good afternoon. I am Yu Ke, Spokesperson of Bank of China. A big welcome to all media friends joining today's interim results press conference online. Over the past six months, you have documented through your words and lenses, you have documented Bank of China's concrete actions and sense of responsibility in serving national strategies and supporting the real economy. You have also witnessed our efforts to innovate financial services and drive high-quality development. Thank you for your consistent support and attention. Now, we move on to the media Q&A session. Please take the first question. Thank you. I'm from China Daily. My question is like this. Recently, PBOC and five other departments jointly released the guiding opinions on financial sector supporting consumption expansion, stating the roadmap. What major measures have been taken by Bank of China to expand the financial supply for this? Thank you. I would like to invite Vice President Zhao Cai to answer this question. Thank you for your question. Bank of China has always taken on its shoulders the responsibility of serving national strategy and made advanced deployments for boosting consumption. We have immediately formulated an action plan and detailed measures to expand financial services and boost domestic consumption from both sides, that is supply and demand. First, in terms of the support for boosting people's consumption capabilities and have inclusive finance to support people's employment and entrepreneurship, we have expanded our support for entrepreneurship guarantee loan. In the first half of this year, we dispersed dedicated loans in this regard, more than RMB 300 billion. We also help people to increase their income. We strengthened product screening, asset allocation, and customer companionship. At the end of June this year, the group's personal customers base, for them, the financial asset scale reached RMB 16.83 trillion. We have also optimized our system to enrich the personal pension products to have consumer loans to have bailout for this targeted audience. We have also implemented 2025 National Student Loan interest payment policy by waiving or reducing interest payment, benefiting more than about 80,000 students. We are also making the housing mortgage interest rate adjustment as a routine measure. Second, we are promoting consumption for higher quality and upgradation. In the first half of this year, personal consumption loans, the disbursement amount, and credit card consumption amount have in cumulative terms exceeded RMB 1 trillion. Through professional self-wealth management, we have created asset income of nearly RMB 100 billion for our customers. For consumption subsidies and concessions in this regard, it reached about RMB 5 billion. For national subsidy consumption loan, the loan scale has greatly exceeded that of the level of last year, the whole year. In terms of serving consumption, we are using service consumption and pension relending policy instruments to expand our efforts of credit support for accommodation, catering, recreational activities, tourism, education, and pension or elderly care. By the end of June, for these priority areas of serving consumption and for the elderly care industry, our loan balance reached RMB 202.5 billion. In terms of supporting new types of consumption, we are deepening cooperation with our online e-commerce platforms, and our digital RMB consumption amount is leading in the market. Thirdly, we are helping improve the consumption environment to make the consumption more convenient. We are expanding secondary consumption for overseas visitors visiting China so that they can immediately have a tax refund after buying. In Beijing and Tianjin, we have had the first transaction of cross-border interoperability business. In Beijing CBD Street, Anshai, Huangpu Central Plaza, such core commercial catchments, we have established centralized tax refund spots for the whole city. On LifeWatung app, we are having an online application channel so that we can bring about a one-stop service experience for purchase and tax refund. In the first half of this year, our outbound tax refund for overseas visitors, when they leave the country, the tax refund transactions of our bank had a year-on-year increase of nearly 80%. We are also promoting payment facilitation for ATM foreign card service. For example, withdrawing cash, the coverage is almost 100%. We are also strengthening the financial consumer protection initiative. We are conducting a lot of outreach activities, including on March 15. These activities have touched 2.1 billion person times. In the future, Bank of China will further play out its global advantages to help individuals and enterprises to have more income and boost the consumption environment. Second, innovate products and services around the key consumption areas and focus on the organization and implementation of the discount policies around personal consumer loans and serving the businesses. Third, to create a reassuring consumption environment to support the urban and rural consumption infrastructure development and support the modern circulation system layout. Continue to optimize the payment system so as to protect the consumer rights. Thank you. Next question, please. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm Liuyang from Xinhua News Agency. My question is about your support for the foreign trade. In the first half of this year, the trade-oriented businesses have actively explored the domestic and overseas markets and have promoted the steady growth of imports and exports. As a primary bank to support the high-quality development of foreign trade, what specific actions has Bank of China taken to support those export-oriented businesses? Thank you for your question. Mr. Yang will take this question. Thank you for your question. As you all know, Bank of China is a primary leader in terms of foreign exchange and foreign trade businesses. We have always been a leader in serving the new development paradigm. We have taken this as our mission and responsibility. Faced with a complex and changing international trade situation, Bank of China has continued to invest more resources to support foreign-oriented companies to face the pressure, maintain their vitality, and show their advantages. Bank of China continues to provide financial supplies for foreign trade and help those businesses respond to the external shock. First, more convenient cross-border settlement. We have upgraded the cross-border remittance services and expanded the customer coverage. We have reduced the handling time to less than a second and helped the businesses seize the market window period through our digital and intelligent financial services. From January to June this year, our domestic institutions have helped various types of businesses handle over $2.1 trillion worth of international settlement businesses, increasing by 6.51% year on year. Second, stronger financial support. We have used working capital loans, supply chain finance, letter of credit, and letter of guarantee to satisfy the different financing needs of different companies to facilitate the flow of funds for the foreign trade companies. Third, more convenient foreign exchange risk avoidance. Online banking and mobile banking have added special sections for foreign exchange services, making it easier for the businesses. We've actively responded to the needs of the businesses and hosted various analysis sessions on the topic of foreign exchange. We continue to promote this risk-neutral philosophy to help the foreign-oriented enterprises respond to the foreign exchange volatilities. Bank of China also nourish and participate in the nourishment of new growth drivers. We have supported the development of new foreign trade business mode. We supported and introduced a series of measures and introduced the e-commerce overseas collection service and established an integrated cross-border e-commerce settlement system with our business scale increasing by 42%. Number two, we supported the steady growth of trade transactions with emerging regions. For example, we have offered foreign exchange settlement and the sales services in Serbia and Poland and strengthened support for foreign trade with RCEP, Latin America, and other key areas. Third, support the going global of new businesses. We have introduced a comprehensive service plan to support overseas trade to satisfy the need for fund security and optimize the global supply chain. Number four, to help the FTZ development scale new heights, we leveraged our advantage in cross-border businesses and actively participate in the FTZ business innovation pilot. We have the international trade settlement of key FTZ branches and the foreign exchange settlement and sales of cross-border RMB services have remained a market leadership position. Bank of China have also supported the foreign export-oriented companies to explore diversified markets. We have supported the Spring Guangzhou Fair and the Consumer Expo to help those companies expand their friend circle. Second, to promote the use of cross-border RMB use in key areas, for example, in commodity trade, capital market investment. We have customized a lot of product programs for cross-border RMB settlement, financing, plus foreign exchange trading so as to effectively reduce the transaction cost for the businesses. Third, to provide in-depth services for the customers and enable two-way connections. For example, we have hosted a series of activities, the Chinese and French enterprises, matchmaking events, and matchmaking activities for Chinese and Italian businesses. We have attracted the participation of companies from various countries and regions around the world and support the sales channels of premium commodities and products. Looking to the second half of the year, China's foreign trade still faces very complex external situation challenges. Bank of China will closely follow the national policy to stabilize foreign trade, leverage our global advantages, and integrated operation features to make greater contribution. First, to make global settlement service more convenient, we will focus on cross-border remittance, cross-border e-commerce, and shipping trade to improve the digitalization and facilitation of trade settlement, increase efficiency, and reduce costs for the businesses. Second, consolidate our advantages in global cash management services. We will improve our capabilities, create a round-the-clock operation support capability, and increase the efficiency and security of the fund pool to make sure that the global fund management for the businesses is visible, controllable, and operational. Third, we should leverage our global network advantage to leverage both markets and both resources, domestic and overseas markets, so as to introduce competitive financial funds for those businesses and to connect the trade transactions. Number four, support the global economic and trade transactions. We will provide better services for the CIIE, Import Expo, and the Canton Fair so as to promote some cross-border matchmaking and entrepreneurship trade and help the export-oriented enterprises expand market and improve quality of their businesses. Next question, please. Thank you for the opportunity. I'm from chinanet.com. Now, China's silver economy is developing rapidly, and they have strong demand for financial services. How does Bank of China plan to better meet the growing service demand from the senior citizens and promote the high-quality development of the silver economy? Thank you for your question. This question is about pension finance. President Jun Yang will take this question. Thank you for your interest in pension finance. In the first half of this year, there are a lot of incremental policies in the area of pension finance. The silver economy potential continues to be released. As a major financial institution, Bank of China has remained committed to serving the people and promoted the supply-side structure reform of the financial sector to care for the security of the pension assets. We have worked hard to cultivate the senior citizens' customers. First, preserve and grow the pension assets. We have offered some dedicated product portfolios. We have issued six new dedicated deposit products for the senior citizens. As of the end of June, it reached RMB 140 billion. We have offered two new retail pension wealth management products, reaching RMB 40 billion by the end of June, and it has outperformed the market. Second, enable the reasonable planning of the pension assets. There is a dedicated pension finance section in the mobile app covering the basic pension insurance, enterprise annuities, and individual pension. It provides a very comprehensive visual insight into the pension assets. It has various functions, for example, measure your pension treatment, filling the gaps, and make up for the pension assets so that people will rest assured. Third, the Social Security card has integrated more livelihood functions. We are one of the first banks to issue a Social Security bank card, which enables the integration of Social Security, financial services, transportation, and high-speed railway services so that the Social Security card services have expanded to the high-frequency scenarios for the people. Cardholders can go to the hospitals, buy medicines, can also take their salaries, and can just take this card, swipe this card to take the Beijing-Tianjin Expressway. This enables the seamless connection of commute, financial services, and life scenarios. Number four, strengthen our capabilities to serve the senior citizens. We have expanded our outlets and also developed the code of conduct for special clients in the outlets so that we can better serve those senior citizens. In Guangdong, for three consecutive years, we have hosted over 50 events in collaboration with the Guangdong government. We have created a senior citizen consumer ecosystem covering supermarkets, hospitals, banks, and securities to provide an immersive experience for pension products and services serving over 40,000 senior citizens. Number five, serving the high-quality development of the silver economy so that it is easily accessible to the senior citizens. Under the guidance of the local PBOC, we have completed the first batch of pension loans. We have supported the old age care services, the old age technology, and the smart old age care services. We have provided nearly 350 new pension industry or old age care industry loans. In the second half of this year, Bank of China will continue to implement the government incremental policies for pension finance and will focus on the pension finance, old age care service financing, and old age care industry finance and build a pension finance service system with Chinese Bank of China characteristics. First, we will improve our professional advantage of pension finance. We will focus on the three pillars and implement some measures such as portfolio manager profile and integrated operation. We will focus on the strategic opportunity of long-term care insurance and provide full lifecycle and full scenery financial comprehensive solutions for the government and the pension institutions. Number two, continue to strengthen our advantages of pension service financing. We will closely follow the policy dynamics and timely introduce some premium products to the satisfaction of the customers. Centering on the entire lifecycle, financial needs of the pension customer group will actively innovate. We have actively innovated various types of pension products with low thresholds and stable returns, building a more systematic financial product shelf. Third, we'll continuously increase credit support for the pension industry, focusing on silver consumption areas such as care, health, and self-enjoyment. We will introduce comprehensive financial service solutions, fully utilize policy tools like relending and low-interest subsidies, increase credit support for the pension industry, and maintain rapid growth in the scale of pension industry loans. Fourthly, we will continuously build differentiated advantages in online and offline channels. For offline, we will expand and strengthen our pension service demonstration outlets. For online, the mobile banking pension finance section will further introduce high-quality non-financial resources such as medical wellness and travel-based retirement living, providing a finance plus pension service ecosystem experience. Bank of China will continuously polish the Bank of China Silver Age Pension Finance brand. From the customer's perspective, we will further integrate and innovate pension financial products and services, building a pension financial service system with Bank of China characteristics, making Bank of China Silver Age and Suyue Changqing leading brands in the industry's pension finance sector. Thank you. Thank you, Vice President Yang. Now, let's continue with the questions. Thank you for the question, for the opportunity to raise the question. I'm Li Jing from China Securities. I have a question. What impact will the private placement in the first half of the year to supplement Core Tier 1 capital have on BOC's risk resistance capability? Second, what are the next steps to improve capital use efficiency? How do you view the future dividend payout ratio and the level of dividend per share or DPS? Thank you for your question. I would like to invite Board Secretary Mr. Chengwen Zhuo to answer this question. Thank you for your question. On June 13, our bank conducted a private placement of A shares to the Ministry of Finance, or MOF, raising RMB 165 billion. After deducting related costs, the entire amount was used to increase Core Tier 1 capital. Core Tier 1 capital is the highest level and highest quality capital, serving as an important foundation for the bank to resist the risks and operate soundly. An increase in Core Tier 1 capital also correspondingly enhances the capacity for supplementing other levels of capital. After this round of capital increase, our bank's Core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio reached 12.57%, an increase of 75 basis points compared to the end of the first quarter, marking the highest level in our bank's history. Other capital adequacy ratios, or CARs, were also further improved with the Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio and total capital adequacy ratio rising by 52 basis points and 69 basis points, respectively, compared to the end of the first quarter. This capital increase has effectively solidified our bank's capital foundation, optimized the capital structure, and thickened the defensive buffer against various risks and market volatility shocks, enabling our bank to better cope with complex economic situations and maintain operational resilience. This capital increase has replenished our bank's ammunition depot for sound operation and navigating cycles. We'll take this Core Tier 1 capital replenishment as an opportunity to further improve capital use efficiency, leverage the fundamental role of capital in operation and management, and accelerate the transition towards a capital-efficient and economical usage model. First, we will fully utilize the leverage effect of capital, continuously enhance fund utilization efficiency and financial service levels, and solid work on the five key areas of finance to serve the development of the real economy. Second, we'll optimize business and capital allocation, accelerate the improvement of global deployment capabilities and international competitiveness, and strive to expand diversified revenue sources. Third, we'll further strengthen the concepts of capital return and value creation, enhance the application of value creation indicators in resource allocation, and improve the capability in high-quality development under capital strains. Fourth, we'll strengthen refined capital management, optimize and excel in capital-heavy businesses, and enhance comprehensive customer returns through all-round financial services. We'll expand and strengthen capital-light business, reasonably adjust the business structure, and vigorously develop intermediary business such as settlement, custody, and bails management. Bank of China has long valued investor returns. Since its share reform and listing, cumulative dividends have exceeded RMB 900 billion for dividend payout. Since 2015, the dividend payout ratio has been maintained at a high level of 30%. Starting in 2024, interim cash dividends were also implemented, allowing investors to share in our bank's operational performance results earlier. Currently, for 2025, Bank of China's dividend payout ratio and frequency remain stable. In the morning, the board of directors also recommended an interim dividend for 2025 of RMB 1.094 per 10 shares, with the payout ratio continuing to be maintained at a high level of 30%. From the long-term perspective, the enhancement of capital strength brought by this private placement will promote the recovery and improvement of Bank of China's profitability, as well as earnings per share and dividend levels, helping to create greater value and deliver long-term stable returns for investors. Thank you. Thank you, Board Secretary Zhuo. Due to the time constraint, we have time for one last question. Please connect with the last journalist. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm from Phoenix TV, and my name is Li ngli Deng. I have a question related to technology finance. Since the beginning of this year, a series of policy measures have been introduced to guide financial resources to better support technological innovation. How is Bank of China seizing the opportunities to intensify the development of technology finance? What are the key focuses for your next steps? Thank you for the question from journalists from Phoenix TV. Let's invite President Hui Zhang to answer the question. Thank you for your question. I'm very happy that at this press conference, I can answer this last question. Technology finance is the top priority among the five key areas of finance and is of great significance for promoting industrial innovation led by technological innovation and actively cultivating and developing new quality productive forces. Bank of China regards technology finance as a top priority in business development, actively integrates into the national technological innovation system, leverages the group's global advantages and comprehensive characteristics, supports the high-quality development of the technology industry, and enhances the momentum for technology finance development. Therefore, as a result, service quality and efficiency of our bank have steadily improved. Overall, this represents three characteristics. First, the technology content of credit has further increased for the whole group of Bank of China. By the end of June, Bank of China's technology loans accounted for over 30% of corporate loan balances, maintaining a leading position among major peers. Second, loans to technology-based SMEs, that is small and micro enterprises and little giants, specialized and sophisticated SMEs, also lead the market in credit scales. This can ensure the efficiency and quality of inclusive finance at the same time. Third, comprehensive service capabilities continue to improve. For comprehensive services provided for technology finance, it does not include credit. With cumulative comprehensive service supply exceeding RMB 780 billion and efforts in investing in early startups and small and micro enterprises continue to intensify. These are the three characteristics for technology finance of Bank of China. In the second half of 2025, our technology finance measures manifested in the following aspects. First, we built a three-dimensional service network to enrich financial resource supply in technology innovation hubs. Through technology finance centers covering 24 provinces and cities with concentrated technology innovation resources such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, and 275 technology finance outlets, we are now providing credit support to over 160,000 technology-based enterprises. We are also enhancing the comprehensive technology finance service level in innovation hubs like Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, Greater Bay Area. We are continuously increasing credit supply and steadily improving customer coverage. Second, we are also supporting the key areas of high-quality development, for example, in the AI sector. We have launched our action plan to support the development of the AI industry chain in January this year. We were the first to do so. This has comprehensively supported the upstream computing power infrastructure, midstream technological innovation, and downstream scenario applications in the industry chain with plans to provide. Our plan is to provide RMB 1 trillion in special comprehensive financial support over the next five years. In May, we launched the POC technology innovation computing power loan scheme in AI innovation active regions, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Anhui. We are actively serving enterprises' computing power resource procurement needs with this initiative and fully supporting the construction of the technology innovation hubs. In Beijing, we are providing manufacturing and investment loan. In Shenzhen, we are providing SiTech R&D loan. With such characteristic loan products for SiTech innovation, many SiTech enterprises or many regions have benefited in terms of the loan balance, the comprehensive service provided, and the customer service level. In terms of all those fronts, POC is leading among our peers. Third, we have built globalized cross-border services to strengthen financial service support for technology enterprises going global, leveraging BOC's global network layout and advantages in high-quality customer groups, cash management, cross-border payments, and asset custody. We are now providing 14 technology finance services, including basic account settlement services, private financing, technology finance loans, cornerstone investment custody, and IPO collection. Through domestic overseas interactions and integrated commercial and investment banking services, we precisely support a group of technology innovation enterprises in fields such as biomedicine, chip design, and intelligent computing. In the first half, we had made full use of IPO opportunities to provide such services. Fourth, we are building diversified comprehensive services to deepen the technology finance product service matrix. We deeply participate in the construction of the Bond Technology Innovation Board and let the market. Since the launch of the technology board, Bank of China's technology innovation bond underwriting scale has exceeded RMB 30 billion, underwriting 69 bonds, including the first batch of technology innovation bonds announced by several leading technology innovation enterprises and the market's first long-term technology innovation bond by a private equity investment institution, further enriching financial supply methods in the hard technology field. At the same time, we are also making full use of SiTech innovation and technological retrofitting, relanding, and the newly added loans exceeded RMB 90 billion in this regard. In terms of the product and the service innovation, we are also working with our peers to enhance our efforts. We have worked together with China Life to provide joint efforts so that we can provide differentiated bank and insurance services for pilot scale testing. Fifthly, we are building digital platform tools to strengthen technological empowerment in operation and management in technology finance core regions. We independently developed the Quantum Digital Platform in Shenzhen and other places and continuously iterated and upgraded it using advanced technologies such as AIGC or generative AI, knowledge graphs, and privacy computing. We have in a targeted fashion evaluated enterprises' innovation capabilities and automatically recommended suitable financial products for tech enterprises at different stages of their lifecycle. This has been spoken highly of by enterprises and the local governments. Supporting SiTech innovation is an important strategic measure for financial services to serve the high-quality development of the real economy. It is also a very important area for us to undertake our responsibility entrusted by the country. Going forward, Bank of China will continue to thoroughly implement the national strategic direction, promote high-level planning, high-standard services, and high-quality development of technological finance. You mentioned just now you want me to introduce to you the key deployments in the future. First, focus on key technology breakthroughs and serve the AI Plus initiative. We will expand the depth and the breadth of financial sectors serving the AI. Now, we are implementing the relevant plans. Second, to improve our integrated services and promote the diversified technology finance ecosystem development. We have promoted the Bank of China SiTech Partnership Program. We are actively working on the POC Technology Integrated Partnership Program to build a coordinated risk sharing and benefit sharing innovation mechanism so as to help the key enterprises. Number three, to leverage our global advantage, actively serve the high-tech companies and especially their cross-border financial services. We should leverage our working mechanism of one-point access and global response, integrate resources, and actively support the cross-border financing channels for high-tech companies. Also, serve the global, going global and bringing in and the opening up and cooperation of technology finance. In the future, Bank of China will continue to leverage our advantage and features and will work hard to leverage the competitive advantage of our technology finance and elevate it into our strategy advantage and the brand advantage so as to contribute more to high-level technology independence and high-quality productivity. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Zheng. For the interest of time, that's the end of the media Q&A session. If you have further questions or intentions of communication, please contact us. Thank you very much again for the investors, analysts, and friends from the press. Bank of China will continue to remain committed to our original intention and respond to the challenges ahead through reform and live up to the expectations of all walks of life. That's the end of the release. I look forward to seeing you next.