On August 17, Ji Guangheng, Party Secretary and President of Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd., stated at the bank's 2026 interim results conference that after years of adjustment, the banking industry will find it difficult in the short term to return to the past phase of rapid profit growth driven by swift scale expansion. For Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd., the future will not be about pursuing a very large scale, but rather a greater focus on quality and output per unit. In the first half of this year, Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd. achieved growth in both revenue and net profit.
When discussing the sustainability of the "return to growth," Xiang Youzhi, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd., noted that from a future trend perspective, operational pressure remains significant. However, some positive signs have emerged in net interest income during the first half of the year. On one hand, the interest margin has stabilized and recovered; on the other hand, retail loans are also beginning to show signs of stabilization. Nevertheless, Xiang Youzhi also pointed out that pressure persists on future loan scale growth and asset pricing. Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd. will continue to strengthen refined management of assets and liabilities, reducing low-efficiency and ineffective assets on the asset side while increasing the proportion of effective assets. On the liability side, the bank will adhere to the principle of "liabilities determined by assets," paying close attention to marginal contribution to returns.
Ji Guangheng frankly admitted, "For banks to return to that past model of high-profile, aggressive growth, leveraging very rapid expansion to achieve fast profit growth, I believe that time will not come again in the short term." In his view, effective financing demand remains insufficient, and banks cannot simply take on more risk by lowering standards just to achieve scale growth. Taking retail personal loans as an example, Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd. once ranked first among joint-stock banks in incremental growth during the first half of the year, but the actual increase was only a few billion yuan. "For such a large bank, its growth in magnitude is only on the order of tens of billions. That means most of the time, everyone is underwater, with negative growth across the board," Ji Guangheng said.
Ji Guangheng stated that after earlier adjustments, Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd. has now "basically cleared out legacy risks, and no new risks have accumulated," while continuing to strengthen management of funding costs, risk costs, and capital. "Ultimately, we will not pursue a very large scale. We still hope to pursue quality and output per unit," Ji Guangheng said. He noted that Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd.'s output-per-unit metrics, including revenue per employee, profit per employee, and output per branch, currently rank among the top of joint-stock banks.
He also mentioned that when effective credit demand is insufficient, banks cannot offer loans with returns that are too low, or even below cost, just to acquire assets. "If you lend out very cheap loans today and acquire assets through intense competition, two years later they may not necessarily be the best assets, and the risks they bring could put more pressure on you."
"In the future, we need to be more patient," Ji Guangheng said. If most of what was done over the past year was correct, the future will involve more fine-tuning and refinement of strategy, "slowly and steadily returning to a good path."
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