Photo/VCG

Jan. 6 (NBD) -- Stock of China Merchants Bank (600036.SH) reached 39.73 yuan in the Morning trading session on Monday, making the company the fifth member in the one-trillion-yuan market cap club of Chinese banks, following the top four state-owned commercial banks, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (601398.SH), China Construction Bank (601939.SH), Bank of China (601988.SH), and Agricultural Bank of China (601288.SH).

National Business Daily (NBD) noticed that China Merchants Bank became the first joint-stock commercial bank in China that crossed the mark of one-trillion-yuan market cap. 

However, it fell under the symbolic benchmark in the afternoon after its stock price dropped slightly to close at 39.24 yuan per share. 

It is worth noting that China Merchants Bank's share prices have soared 57 percent since January 2019 while the index of banking stocks only witnessed 30 percent growth during the same period.

The leading retail banking and financial technology have made China Merchants Bank a sought-after for investors. Moreover, the bank's investment moves are the icing on the cake.

NBD found that China Merchants Bank, through its wholly-owned subsidiary CMB International, has invested in the top performing battery firm Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL, 300750.SZ).

Back in January 2016, CMB International first bought into CATL for 960 million yuan, purchasing 68.5714 million shares at 14 yuan each, and pumped another 2.9 billion yuan into CATL at 43 yuan per share. The investments have so far generated over 11 billion yuan in paper profits for CMB International. 

The battery manufacturer's stock price rocketed by 262 percent to 109.9 yuan per share on Monday since it went public in June 2018.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn