How China Merchants Bank Achieved DevOps Excellence: Insights from GNSEC Forum

Editor's note: According to a McKinsey study, technology companies succeed through standardization and tool empowerment . Standards gather best practices; embedding them in tools lets people focus on higher‑value work, aligning with DevOps standards and continuous delivery pipelines.

On September 6, 2019, the GNSEC Summit was held in Beijing, focusing on comprehensive software engineering and technology. The forum gathered industry experts, scholars, and practitioners to present the latest research results, share cutting‑edge practice, and promote collaboration among academia, industry, and research.

The China Information & Communications Research Institute (CAICT) Deputy Chief Engineer Shi Deniang delivered the opening speech, and senior experts from Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, China Mobile and others shared their DevOps experiences.

China Merchants Bank (CMB) received the "Research and Development Operations Integration (DevOps) Capability Maturity Model" certification from CAICT, achieving Level 3 in all seven evaluated projects, indicating a leading domestic continuous‑delivery capability.

Asset Management Data Marketplace

Asset Custody Core System

Wealth Management W+ Private Banking

Wholesale CRM and Customer Manager Edition

Corporate Inter‑business Payment Platform (JiaoFeiYi)

ATM Self‑service Equipment Front‑end System

Credit Card Mobile‑Internet Office

The world’s first DevOps standard, the "Research and Development Operations Integration (DevOps) Capability Maturity Model," was led by CAICT together with the Cloud Computing Open‑Source Industry Alliance, Efficient Operations Community, DevOps Community, Google, BATJ, Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, and top experts from communications, finance and other sectors. It has been formally launched by ITU‑T and the China Communications Standards Association (CCSA).

Interview with Chen Zhanwen – CMB DevOps Promotion Lead

GNSEC: Please introduce yourself and the projects CMB evaluated.

Chen: I am Chen Zhanwen from CMB’s Head Office IT Department, responsible for promoting DevOps across the bank. We have three R&D centers in Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou, each with about 5‑6 000 developers. This round includes seven projects covering credit cards, asset custody, wealth management and related domains.

GNSEC: How have previous assessments helped the current evaluation?

Chen: Each assessment provides new insights. Communicating with assessors deepens our understanding of the standard’s best practices, and their suggestions become key improvement directions. We recorded dozens of improvement points, which help verify practice implementation and refine our toolchain and processes.

GNSEC: What is the current state of DevOps adoption at CMB and its impact on business?

Chen: Over the past four‑five years we have invested heavily in DevOps. It is the foundation for agile technology driving agile business, improving developer experience, streamlining development activities, and enhancing overall efficiency and delivery capability.

We are increasing investment in the toolchain, simplifying processes, automating workflows, and ensuring data traceability. Moreover, we focus on cultural change: without proper mindset, even the best tools cannot deliver results.

GNSEC: What specific challenges does DevOps face in the financial industry?

Chen: Financial systems face strict regulatory red lines and high‑availability requirements; downtime can trigger regulatory inquiries. Role separation between developers and operations is tightly defined. We must automate within these constraints, manage change roll‑backs carefully, and handle legacy monolithic systems alongside emerging technologies.

GNSEC: Any final thoughts?

Chen: Thank you for the invitation. Although we have passed 14 projects, there is still much to learn from peer banks. I wish the summit great success.

DevOps brings not only efficient tools but also a collaborative spirit. The assessment marks a new starting point; DevOps serves as a lighthouse guiding digital transformation and helping CMB embark on its post‑transformation journey.

For more information about the DevOps standard, contact the China Information & Communications Research Institute (CAICT) or the Efficient Operations Community.