The 2025 annual report season for listed banks has commenced, with Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd. (000001.SZ), China Citic Bank Corporation Limited (601998.SH), Chongqing Bank, and Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank being the first to release their full-year results. Each of the four banks' financial reports exhibited distinct characteristics and highlights.
Key developments include the passing of the peak non-performing loan exposure period for Ping An Bank's retail segment, CITIC Bank raising its dividend payout ratio to 31.75%, Chongqing Bank achieving over 20% growth in multiple indicators, and Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank demonstrating stable fundamentals. However, a widespread decline in non-interest net income emerged as a common challenge across several banks.
**Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd.: Retail Business Shows Significant Recovery** Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd. maintained its position as the first A-share bank to report annual results. On March 21, the bank released its 2025 financial report. As of the end of 2025, the bank's total assets reached 5,927.577 billion yuan, an increase of 2.7% from the end of the previous year. For the full year 2025, operating revenue was 131.442 billion yuan, representing a decrease of 10.4% year-on-year, while net profit was 42.633 billion yuan, down 4.2% year-on-year.
Market attention, however, was focused on changes within its retail banking division. As one of the benchmark retail banks in the A-share market, Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd. has the strategic goal of becoming "China's most exceptional, globally leading intelligent retail bank," but its retail business had faced pressure in recent years.
The 2025 report suggests a potential turnaround for the retail segment. According to the report, revenue from the retail business was 61.626 billion yuan, accounting for 46.9% of total operating revenue, down from 48.6% in 2024. However, the contribution of retail net profit to the bank's total net profit increased significantly. The retail segment contributed only 0.6% of total net profit in 2024, but this figure rose to 6.3% in 2025.
Concurrently, the non-performing loan ratio for personal loans decreased to 1.23% in 2025, down by 0.16 percentage points from 1.39% in 2024. The bank attributed this improvement to its ongoing efforts to optimize its retail asset portfolio strategy, increase the proportion of high-quality customers, and promote a balance between volume, pricing, and risk. Retail loans outstanding stood at 1,727.294 billion yuan at the end of 2025, a decrease of 2.3% compared to the previous year.
Analysis suggests that the peak period for non-performing loan exposure in Ping An Bank's retail business has passed. With continued optimization of the loan structure and a further narrowing decline in net interest margin, profit growth is expected to recover and turn positive in 2026, partly due to a low base effect.
**China Citic Bank Corporation Limited: Increased Cash Dividend Payout** China Citic Bank Corporation Limited also released its 2025 financial report on the same day. The most notable aspect of its report was the increase in the dividend payout ratio.
CITIC Bank's proposed dividend plan includes a cash dividend of 1.93 yuan per 10 shares (before tax) for both A-share and H-share shareholders. The total cash dividend for ordinary shares amounts to 10.74 billion yuan. Combined with the interim cash dividend of 10.461 billion yuan already distributed, the full-year cash dividend totals 21.201 billion yuan. This represents 31.75% of the bank's annual consolidated net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders.
Looking at a longer period, CITIC Bank's cash dividend payout ratio was 30.5% in 2024. The bank had already significantly increased its payout ratio that year, compared to an average ratio of approximately 28% during the 2021-2023 period.
Simultaneously, the bank's fundamentals showed a clear positive trend. In 2025, CITIC Bank's total assets surpassed the 10 trillion yuan mark for the first time, reaching 10,131.028 billion yuan, an increase of 6.28% from the end of the previous year. Operating revenue reached 212.475 billion yuan, a slight decrease of 0.55% year-on-year, but net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 2.98% to 70.618 billion yuan.
Particular attention was paid to the bank's fourth-quarter fundamental data. Analysis highlighted that CITIC Bank's single-quarter revenue grew 8.6% year-on-year, with the growth rate accelerating by 13.1 percentage points quarter-on-quarter, primarily driven by enhanced core revenue generation capabilities. Net interest income for the quarter turned positive with a 0.16% year-on-year growth rate, while other non-interest income surged by over 50% year-on-year. For the full year 2025, net interest income was 144.469 billion yuan, down 1.51% year-on-year, and non-interest net income was 68.006 billion yuan, up 1.55% year-on-year.
Market observers believe that CITIC Bank's improving fundamentals and higher dividend payout ratio will attract incremental medium to long-term capital, potentially driving a recovery in its price-to-book (PB) valuation.
**Long-term Capital Shows Preference for Joint-Stock Banks** A review of the top ten shareholder lists in the 2025 annual reports of Ping An Bank Co.,Ltd. and China Citic Bank Corporation Limited reveals repeated appearances by long-term investors such as insurance funds.
Within Ping An Bank's top ten shareholders, three positions are held by entities within the "Ping An Group." Additionally, four positions are occupied by CSI 300 Index funds. These funds collectively hold significant stakes in the bank.
Similarly, among CITIC Bank's top ten shareholders, the fifth, ninth, and tenth positions are held by long-term capital investors, including products from life insurance companies and a major mutual fund. These shareholdings were largely established during 2025.
**Chongqing Bank: Record Highs in Scale, Increment, and Growth Rate** Chongqing Bank released its financial report on March 25. The bank's performance could be described as "high-growth," with multiple indicators achieving increases of around 20%.
By the end of 2025, Chongqing Bank's total assets reached 1,033.726 billion yuan, an increase of 20.67% from the end of the previous year. Total loans grew by 20.58% to 531.285 billion yuan, and total deposits increased by 19.32% to 565.704 billion yuan. Notably, the bank's corporate loans increased by 96.864 billion yuan from the beginning of the year, surging by 30.95% year-on-year, setting new historical records in terms of scale, increment, and growth rate.
Operating revenue and net profit also achieved low double-digit growth. In 2025, operating revenue reached 15.113 billion yuan, up 10.48% year-on-year, while net profit attributable to shareholders was 5.654 billion yuan, an increase of 10.49% year-on-year.
The primary contributor to this growth was net interest income, which amounted to 12.459 billion yuan in 2025, reflecting a substantial increase of 22.44% year-on-year.
The average balance of interest-earning assets rose by 18.39% to 8,949.96 billion yuan in 2025, though the average yield on these assets decreased by 27 basis points to 3.53%. The average balance of interest-bearing liabilities increased by 22.02% to 8,770.56 billion yuan, while the average cost rate of these liabilities fell by 40 basis points to 2.18%. As a result, Chongqing Bank's net interest margin defied the broader trend by increasing 4 basis points to 1.39%.
The bank's asset quality showed improvement across several metrics, characterized by a "three declines and one increase." By the end of 2025, the non-performing loan ratio was 1.14%, down 0.11 percentage points; the special-mention loan ratio was 1.94%, down 0.70 percentage points; the overdue loan ratio was 1.36%, down 0.37 percentage points; and the provision coverage ratio increased by 0.50 percentage points to 245.58%.
Alongside its earnings, Chongqing Bank announced a final dividend plan for 2025, proposing a cash dividend of 2.918 yuan per 10 shares, totaling approximately 1.014 billion yuan. Combined with the third-quarter pre-distribution, the total cash dividend for 2025 amounts to 1.599 billion yuan, representing a cash dividend payout ratio of 30%. Based on calculations, the dividend yield for Chongqing Bank's A-shares was approximately 4.21%.
**Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank Reports Stable Growth** Another bank in the Sichuan-Chongqing region, Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank, released its 2025 financial report on March 26. In 2025, the bank's total assets reached 1,665.7 billion yuan, total deposits stood at 1,028.7 billion yuan, and total loans were 797.3 billion yuan, with growth rates of 9.95%, 9.21%, and 11.62% respectively. Full-year operating revenue was 28.65 billion yuan, and net profit was 12.42 billion yuan, increasing by 1.37% and 5.35% year-on-year, respectively. Similar to Chongqing Bank, net interest income saw a year-on-year increase, rising 7.85% to 24.261 billion yuan.
The bank's dividend plan for 2025 involved a mid-year cash dividend and a proposed final cash dividend. The total annual cash dividend amounted to 3.645 billion yuan, representing a payout ratio of 30.05% of the net profit attributable to listed company shareholders.
**Non-Interest Net Income Emerges as a Major Drag on Performance** Ping An Bank's report indicated that its non-interest net income for 2025 was 43.421 billion yuan, a significant decrease of 18.5% year-on-year. Within this, net fee and commission income was 23.894 billion yuan, down 0.9%, while other non-interest income fell sharply by 33%. Analysis pointed to the drag from other non-interest income as a primary factor pressuring the bank's 2025 revenue and profit.
Similarly, non-interest net income was a factor hindering revenue and profit growth at Chongqing Bank. In 2025, its non-interest net income was 2.654 billion yuan, down 24.24% year-on-year. Net fee and commission income decreased by 32.66% to 598 million yuan, while net gains from fair value changes and investment income fell by 21.95% to 1.928 billion yuan.
Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank also reported a decline in non-interest net income, which fell 23.92% year-on-year to 4.387 billion yuan. Fee and commission income decreased by 19.17% to 1.294 billion yuan, and other non-interest income dropped by 25.55% to 3.093 billion yuan.
Among the four banks, China Citic Bank Corporation Limited demonstrated the strongest performance in non-interest net income. Its non-interest net income for 2025 reached 68.006 billion yuan, an increase of 1.55% year-on-year. Net fee and commission income grew by 5.58% to 32.772 billion yuan, while other non-interest income, including investment gains, decreased slightly by 1.93% to 35.234 billion yuan.
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