On March 30, Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) held its 2025 annual results presentation. President Wang Zhiheng stated that despite a complex and volatile operating environment in 2025, the bank's financial growth maintained strong resilience. Operating revenue has achieved positive growth for two consecutive years, while net profit has also sustained positive growth with a gradually increasing growth rate, further consolidating a stable and improving trend.
Wang Zhiheng pointed out that over a longer time horizon, ABC's financial performance has been particularly commendable. The net profit growth rate has led comparable peers for six consecutive years, and operating revenue has outperformed peers, being the first to recover and reach a historical high. This represents sustained growth on a high base, effectively demonstrating market characteristics of both dividend and growth. This has built confidence and laid a foundation for ABC to strive for even better performance.
Wang Zhiheng emphasized that management is highly confident that operating performance in 2026 will show further improvement. Based on the situation in the first two months of 2026, ABC's business operations have continued their stable and positive trajectory. Wang Zhiheng revealed that loans to the real economy increased by 1.1 trillion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase. This is reflected in the financial operations as a clear trend of stabilizing net interest margins. The growth rate of net interest income has turned positive year-on-year and is expected to reach an inflection point in the first quarter, further corroborating other positive trends.
Wang Zhiheng stated that in the next phase, ABC will maintain strategic focus. Building on the continuous optimization of financial services, the bank will better coordinate volume, price, and effectiveness, thoroughly advance revenue increase and expenditure reduction, lower costs and improve efficiency, and strive to extend the current favorable development trend. The work will focus on the following three areas:
First, promote and consolidate the positive turnaround in the growth rate of net interest income. On one hand, regarding scale, the bank will deeply tap into effective credit demand, increase the allocation of loans to the real economy, continuously optimize the asset structure, and promote the coordinated development of the total amount and structure of interest-earning assets. In other aspects, it will strengthen refined pricing management, enhance the marginal return on assets, further solidify the customer base, organize low-cost and stable funds effectively, and flexibly arrange active liabilities to drive a further decline in deposit costs.
Second, actively expand the growth space for non-interest income. On one hand, the bank will seize the good opportunities presented by policies to boost consumption and the reform and development of the capital market, increase the supply of products and services such as wealth management, effectively meet customers' diversified needs, and continuously enhance the value contribution of intermediary business. On the other hand, the bank will further strengthen comprehensive operations, proactively conduct research and judgment on market trends, dynamically optimize investment and trading strategies and the allocation of major asset classes, and strive to maintain a good level of other non-interest income.
Third, effectively manage risks and costs. On one hand, the bank will continue to focus on preventing and controlling credit risks in key areas, strictly control expected and newly arising non-performing loans, strive to stabilize asset quality, and endeavor to reduce risk cost consumption. On the other hand, it will strengthen intensive and refined management, further reduce non-urgent and non-essential expenses, and strive to achieve higher returns with optimal costs.
"In summary, we should be full of confidence for 2026," Wang Zhiheng emphasized.
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