Economic prosperity relies heavily on the extensive participation of financial institutions such as banks. However, amid profound economic and financial transformations—including narrowing interest rate spreads, shifting profit sources, and workforce reductions—competition within the banking sector has intensified. As the frontline platform for product marketing, financial service provision, potential client acquisition, and brand promotion, bank branches play a foundational role in all banking operations. Consequently, branch planning and layout have become critical components of bank management, where the environment, resource allocation efficiency, and available resources serve as indicators of a bank’s competitiveness.

  Holding a financial license is a prerequisite for establishing bank branches, referring to the legal document issued by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (later restructured as the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, CBIRC) that authorizes financial institutions to operate. The issuance, renewal, suspension, or revocation of financial licenses is exclusively governed by the CBIRC, with no other entities permitted to exercise these powers. While financial licenses apply to all CBIRC-regulated institutions engaged in financial activities, this database exclusively covers bank branch information.
China’s bank branch distribution data is organized into three tables based on the status of financial licenses:

• China Bank Branch Distribution Information Table
• China Bank Branch Out-of-Control Information Table
• China Bank Branch Exit Information Table

  This database encompasses distribution details for all bank branches in China, including fields such as Regulatory Bureau (机构所在分局), Institution Name (机构名称), Location (机构所在地), Licensing Authority (发证机关), and Issuance Date (发证日期), with ongoing updates planned.

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Time Range

The data covers all financial license information prior to June 2024 (updatable as needed).

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Data Scale

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Field Display

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Sample Data

China Bank Branch Distribution Information Table

China Bank Branch Exit Information Table

China Bank Branch Out-of-Control Information Table

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Related Literature

• LUO Zhi, QI Bocheng, 2021: "Effects of Environmental Regulation on Industrial Transfer and Upgrading and Bank Synergy: Evidence from Water Pollution Control in the Yangtze River Basin," Economic Research Journal, No. 2.
• CAI Qingfeng, CHEN Yihui, LIN Kun, 2020: "Credit Resource Availability and Enterprise Innovation: Incentive or Suppression?—Micro-evidence from Bank Branch Data and Financial Geographic Structure," Economic Research Journal, No. 10.
• HUANG Minxue, YU Yinghao, YAO Jiaxin et al., 2023: "Impact of Technological and Human Network Structures on Bank Performance: A Panoramic Study of Spatial Competition Among Bank Branches," Journal of Management Sciences in China, No. 5.

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Data Update Frequency

Annual Updates