Recent annual results briefings for the six major state-owned banks have concluded, with market focus centered on their capital adequacy levels and capital replenishment plans. Last year, Bank of China, Postal Savings Bank Of China Co.,Ltd., Bank of Communications, and China Construction Bank collectively raised approximately 520 billion yuan through定向增发, with the Ministry of Finance contributing 500 billion yuan.
This year's Government Work Report explicitly proposed issuing 300 billion yuan in special government bonds to support capital replenishment for large state-owned commercial banks. This move signals the official launch of a second round of capital reinforcement for major state-owned banks, further strengthening their capital foundations.
Industry attention currently focuses on two core issues: how state-owned banks will coordinate this year's capital replenishment efforts, and how to efficiently deploy the reinforced capital to precisely channel financial resources to key areas and vulnerable sectors of the real economy. This would fully leverage the stabilizing role of major state-owned banks in supporting high-quality economic development. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, and Postal Savings Bank Of China Co.,Ltd. each addressed these points during their results briefings.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China According to Tian Fenglin, Board Secretary and Senior Business Director of ICBC, the bank reinforced core tier-1 capital by 246.9 billion yuan through profit retention in 2025. It completed the issuance of 230 billion yuan in capital instruments and 100 billion yuan in TLAC bonds, reducing the interest cost of existing instruments by 42 basis points.
By the end of 2025, ICBC's capital adequacy ratio stood at 18.76%, with tier-1 capital adequacy at 14.94% and core tier-1 capital adequacy at 13.57%, all maintaining stable operations within reasonable ranges.
For 2026, ICBC will focus on three areas: formulating capital plans for the 15th Five-Year Plan period to provide a solid capital foundation for serving the real economy and advancing its "Five Transformations"; deepening the application of EVA in management to enhance operational vitality and value creation capabilities across business units; and orderly implementing capital replenishment, with new capital and TLAC instrument issuance plans already developed. These will be advanced based on capital supply-demand conditions and market dynamics to ensure all regulatory metrics remain robust.
Regarding core tier-1 capital replenishment, Tian Fenglin noted that the Government Work Report mentioned plans for 300 billion yuan in special bonds, but specific details should be referenced from ICBC's official announcements.
Bank of China Bank of China has completed an initial capital replenishment of 165 billion yuan. By the end of last year, its capital adequacy ratio reached 18.85%, the highest year-end level on record, with continuously improving risk resilience.
"Capital is a precious resource for banks to achieve high-quality development. In our credit allocation process, we emphasize capital conservation and精细化管理 of RWA, with risk density further declining in 2025," stated Liu Chenggang, Vice President of Bank of China. He added that in 2026, the bank will adhere to high-quality development requirements, leveraging capital's guiding role in credit resource allocation for reasonable credit deployment.
Key credit allocation focuses for 2026 include maintaining stable and balanced credit growth, continuously optimizing credit structure and direction, upholding the core position of its global strategy, and implementing coordinated fiscal-financial policies to boost domestic demand.
Postal Savings Bank Of China Co.,Ltd. Chairman Zheng Guoyu noted that PSBC has replenished over 200 billion yuan in core tier-1 capital in the past five years, significantly enhancing its capital strength. "Last year's 130 billion yuan capital injection from the state further strengthened our capital base," said President Lu Wei, emphasizing the bank's commitment to improving capital utilization efficiency, strengthening capital conservation management, and enhancing internal capital accumulation capabilities for high-quality development.
As of December 31, 2025, PSBC's core tier-1 capital adequacy ratio was 10.53%, tier-1 capital adequacy ratio was 12.10%, and total capital adequacy ratio was 14.52%.
Zheng Guoyu stated that PSBC will resolutely transition toward a "lightweight bank" model, vigorously developing "light capital," "light asset," and "light liability" businesses. The bank aims to gradually operate on "two legs" by consolidating net interest margin as the "first growth curve" while actively developing non-interest income as the "second growth curve." This strategy seeks to shift away from traditional reliance on deposit-loan scale-driven growth, building a capital-efficient, risk-controlled, and high-return lightweight development path.
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