[4] As of 2019,[update] it is China's biggest state-run conglomerate[5] with one of the largest pools of foreign assets in the world.

[citation needed] CITIC Group was founded as the China International Trust Investment Corporation (Chinese: 中国国际信托投资公司; abb.

In the 1980s, Chinese government founded many for profit corporations, which CITIC was under the leadership of Rong Yiren, a former businessman and politician at that time, who chose to stay in the mainland China in the 1950s after his family business was nationalized.

[citation needed] Beginning in 2008, CITIC Group had the lead role in developing Quilamba in Angola as part of an exchange of Chinese construction materials and expertise for Angolan natural resources.

Senior executives such as Financial Controller Chau Chi-Yin and Group Finance Director Leslie Chang resigned.

[22][23] In November 2016, CITIC CLSA acted as the sole bookrunner for CEFC Shanghai's US$250 bond issuance.

[24] In May 2018, CITIC Group announced they would repay ca 450 million euros owed by CEFC Europe to finance and banking group J&T within days but since the debt was not paid a week later, J&T announced it had taken over shareholder rights and installed crisis management at CEFC Europe.