As listed companies continue to disclose their annual reports, six state-owned banks and nine joint-stock banks have so far released their 2025 financial statements.
Data indicates that all six state-owned banks saw an increase in average employee compensation, while the total compensation for their senior executives declined.
Among the nine joint-stock banks, CITIC Bank ranked first with an average employee compensation of 600,000 yuan. Three banks experienced a decrease in per capita compensation, with China Everbright Bank recording the largest drop. Total executive compensation fell at five banks, with Hua Xia Bank showing the most significant decline.
Additionally, several banks detailed their mechanisms for deferred performance pay and clawback provisions, making "reverse salary recovery" a common practice.
All state-owned banks reported growth in average employee compensation. CITIC Bank led the joint-stock banks with an average compensation of 604,000 yuan. China Merchants Bank followed in second place with compensation just under 580,000 yuan, while Industrial Bank ranked third with a slight annual increase to 565,000 yuan.
China Zheshang Bank, China Minsheng Bank, Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd., and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank all reported average compensations above 400,000 yuan. Although Hua Xia Bank saw a slight increase, it remained at the bottom with an average of 309,000 yuan.
China Everbright Bank's average compensation fell by nearly 10% year-on-year, the largest decline, followed by China Zheshang Bank with a 9% reduction.
Among the six state-owned banks, absolute employee expense outlays were substantial. Due to changes in staff structure, the average compensation increased overall last year. Bank of Communications, Agricultural Bank of China, and Bank of China led with average compensations rising to 455,000 yuan, 371,000 yuan, and 370,000 yuan, respectively. Combining data from all 14 banks, CITIC Bank's figure exceeding 600,000 yuan still ranks first.
Joint-stock banks held an advantage in executive compensation. Available Wind data shows that directors with compensation exceeding 2 million yuan were predominantly concentrated at Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd., China Minsheng Bank, China Merchants Bank, and CITIC Bank. Directors and chairmen at state-owned banks mostly received compensation around 900,000 yuan.
The CEO of Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd., Ji Guangheng, remained at the top of the industry with a compensation of 4 million yuan, despite a reduction of 150,000 yuan from the previous year.
Other members of the "million-yuan compensation" group include China Minsheng Bank Chairman Gao Yingxin, with 3.292 million yuan; China Minsheng Bank Vice Chairman and President Wang Xiaoyong, with 3.2108 million yuan; China Minsheng Bank Vice President Zhang Juntong, with 2.9889 million yuan; and China Merchants Bank President Wang Liang, with 2.9705 million yuan. Lu Wei, who assumed the roles of President and Executive Director of Postal Savings Bank of China from February 13, 2026, received 2.2696 million yuan from CITIC Bank in 2025.
"Reverse salary recovery" has become standard practice. In August 2022, the Ministry of Finance stipulated that financial institutions must reclaim compensation from employees who fail to perform their duties diligently, leading to significant regulatory violations or risk losses for the institution.
The term "performance pay clawback" frequently appeared in the 2025 annual reports of listed banks. For example, Bank of China's report noted that clawbacks were applied to 4,630 instances, totaling 47.1782 million yuan, leading in both metrics among banks that have disclosed their reports.
China Construction Bank reported that no clawbacks were applied to its directors and senior managers in 2025. However, 17 instances involved management personnel at the head office level or equivalent, totaling 1.99 million yuan, down from 26 instances and 3.74 million yuan in 2024.
Among joint-stock banks, China Zheshang Bank executed clawbacks for 970 instances, amounting to 13.6873 million yuan in 2025. While this was lower than the 1,424 instances and 30.3378 million yuan recovered in 2024, it remained high within the industry. Hua Xia Bank applied clawbacks to 577 employees, totaling 9.8503 million yuan, down from 751 employees and 22.207 million yuan in 2024.
Additionally, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, China Minsheng Bank, and others explicitly stated in their 2025 reports that they have established and are implementing related systems.
Wang Pengbo, a senior financial industry analyst at Bocom Consulting, commented that the effective implementation of a performance pay clawback mechanism indicates a bank's capability for risk retrospection and accountability enforcement. However, he cautioned against performative implementation, emphasizing the need to ensure clawbacks are linked to specific risk events, cover key positions, and are accompanied by consistent disclosure.
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