SHANGHAI, March 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- At The Asian Banker "Global Excellence In Retail Finance Awards Ceremony And Gala Dinner 2026"on 12 March, WeBank received four major awards in recognition of its technological innovation and inclusive finance capabilities. The Bank once again retained the titles of "Best Digital Bank in Asia Pacific"and "Best Digital Bank in China". It also secured two additional awards for the first time: "Best SME Bank in China (Digital Bank) "and "Best Customer Experience Initiative in Asia Pacific" for its Weilidai sign-language customer service initiative. WeBank Wins Four Awards from The Asian Banker The Asian Banker Excellence Award Programme is widely regarded as one of the most authoritative awards in the global financial industry, with assessment standards that align with the highest international benchmarks. Renowned for its professionalism, impartial and rigorous judging process, and broad industry coverage, the programme is consistently recognised by financial institutions and research bodies alike. It attracts extensive participation from banks and fintech platforms across the Asia Pacific region, and its influence now extends well beyond the region to financial markets worldwide.

Seven Consecutive Years of "Best in Asia Pacific": Demonstrating Digital Banking Excellence Over the past decade, digital banking has expanded rapidly worldwide. The number of licensed digital banks has surged from 48 in 2014 to more than 400 today, driven by flexible, efficient technological frameworks and innovative service models. These institutions have increasingly moved beyond the constraints of traditional financial services, establishing a distinctive path for digital-inclusive development.

As China's first digital bank, WeBank has placed technology at the centre of its strategy, and through its innovative business practices has positioned itself as a widely recognised global leader in digital banking.Leveraging its technological strengths, the Bank continues to broaden and deepen inclusive finance, addressing the financing challenges faced by small and micro enterprises, self-employed businesses and individual customers. As of the end of 2025, WeBank had served more than 430 million individual customers and over 7 million small and micro enterprises, using technology to bridge the "last mile" in inclusive financial services.

AI is reshaping the global financial sector. In response, WeBank took the lead in 2025 by advancing its "AI-native Bank"strategy, placing itself at the forefront at the next phase of technological transformation. The Bank has strengthened its AI foundation across infrastructure, toolchain development and diversified application frameworks, while deepening integration of AI across all business scenarios. This included reshaping organisational structures and governance systems to support a shift from a "digital-native" to an "AI-native" operating model. Powered by AI, WeBank is driving end-to-end business transformation and setting the direction for the future of digital banking. The Bank has already deployed more than 100 AI application scenarios, supported by over 800 AI agents and more than 60 digital employees. These capabilities underpin a full-process upgrade of financial services, improving operational efficiency, enhancing risk management and optimising customer experience.

At the awards ceremony, WeBank was recognized for its outstanding digital banking capabilities, retaining the titles of "Best Digital Bank in Asia Pacific" and "Best Digital Bank in China". This marks the Bank's seventh consecutive win of the Asia-Pacific award and its eighth win of the China accolade, prestigious international distinctions that underscore its leading position in the digital banking sector.

The Asian Banker noted that, underpinned by its leading digital technology capabilities, WeBank has developed a distinctive and differentiated model for inclusive financial services, establishing a commercially sustainable approach to digital inclusion. This model enables a broader segment of small and micro enterprises, as well as individual customers, to access financial services on an equal footing, supporting the high-quality development of inclusive finance.

Finance for Good, Staying True to Its Original Mission: Inclusive Finance and Warmth Gain International Recognition During the panel, WeBank's strong track record in serving micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and its commitment to barrier-free innovation received high recognition during the selection, earning two major awards for the first time: "Best SME Bank in China (Digital Bank)" and "Best Customer Experience Initiative in Asia Pacific" for its Weilidai sign-language customer service project.

Small and micro enterprises are the capillaries of the real economy and core beneficiaries of inclusive finance. Since launching China's first digital, unsecured working-capital business loan product "Weiyedai" in 2017, WeBank has continued to explore a commercially sustainable model for digital inclusive finance. By leveraging technology to address the "short, small, frequent and urgent" funding needs that often constrain micro and small enterprises, the Bank has broadened access to timely, affordable credit and strengthened support for the real economy.

As of the end of 2025, Weiyedai had covered 30 provincial administrative regions in China, received more than 7 million applications from MSMEs and sole proprietors, and provided credit services to more than 1.8 million clients for a total amount of RMB 1.8 trillion. The Asian Banker noted that these results reflect WeBank's ability to harness digital technology to allocate financial resources with precision and efficiency, enabling countless micro and small enterprises across diverse industries to access timely funding.

Technology provides the engine, but WeBank aims to ensure the experience remains distinctly human. Guided by its mission of "Better Banking for All", WeBank embeds a customer-centric philosophy throughout its service model and actively advances accessibility in financial services. As early as 2015, WeBank established a dedicated accessibility task force, launched remote video identity verification for "Weilidai", and appointed full-time sign-language specialists to support customers with hearing impairments, ensuring they receive fast, convenient and secure financial services. "Weilidai" became the first bank-affiliated financial product in the industry to offer sign-language video customer service. To date, it has issued more than 265,000 loans to customers with hearing impairments, amounting to over RMB 1.17 billion.

Winning four major awards this year reflects strong international recognition of WeBank's achievements in technological innovation, inclusive finance and customer service. It also underscores the Bank's contributions to the wider community. Looking ahead, WeBank will continue to use technology as its core growth engine and inclusiveness as its guiding principle, further deepening financial innovation, enhancing service quality and efficiency, and providing sustained financial momentum to support the high-quality development of the real economy.

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Digital inclusive finance recognition: WeBank's AI driven model advances accessibility and SME credit access across regions. WeBank won four awards recognising its digital inclusive finance model and customer accessibility initiatives, retaining regional digital bank titles and adding awards for SME banking and a sign language service. The bank's AI native strategy strengthens infrastructure, toolchains, applications, governance and organisational design to integrate AI across business scenarios, deploying numerous AI applications and agents to enhance efficiency, risk management and customer experience. Its digital lending product Weiyedai and the Weilidai sign language service expand timely credit access for micro and small enterprises and provide accessible service for customers with hearing impairments.