In the first half of 2025, Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank topped the net interest margin (NIM) rankings among 42 A-share listed banks with 2.58%, being the only bank to exceed 2% NIM.
The top ten rankings include three joint-stock banks: China Merchants Bank (2nd place, 1.88%), Ping An Bank (5th place, 1.8%), and Industrial Bank (8th place, 1.75%), along with one state-owned bank - Postal Savings Bank of China (10th place, 1.7%).
The remaining positions are occupied by city commercial banks, including Changsha Bank (3rd place, 1.87%), Bank of Nanjing (4th place, 1.86%), Bank of Jiangsu (6th place, 1.78%), Bank of Ningbo (7th place, 1.76%), Bank of Qingdao (9th place, 1.72%), and Xi'an Bank (tied 10th place, 1.7%).
In the first half of 2025, only three banks recorded NIM below 1.2%: Zijin Bank (40th place, 1.18%), Bank Of Shanghai (41st place, 1.15%), and Xiamen Bank (42nd place, 1.08%). These three banks occupied the bottom positions among all 42 A-share listed banks.
Regarding the NIM decline, Xiamen Bank, ranking last, attributed it in their financial report to the continued decline in market interest rates and LPR, along with concentrated repricing at the beginning of the year, which significantly reduced average lending rates.
Xiamen Bank also stated that the company continues to strengthen structural optimization and liability cost control measures. On one hand, they are rhythmically increasing corporate general loan increments to slow down the decline in average lending rates. On the other hand, they are strengthening demand deposit absorption and promoting shorter deposit terms to achieve sustained reduction in average deposit rates. This "dual-track approach" helped the company's net interest spread and NIM recover somewhat in the second quarter, with year-on-year declines significantly narrowing compared to the first half of 2024.
In terms of NIM changes, among the 42 A-share listed banks, only two showed positive growth: Xi'an Bank (1st place, +0.49 percentage points) and China Minsheng Bank (2nd place, +0.01 percentage points).
Xi'an Bank explained in their financial report that in the first half, the company achieved net interest income of 3.898 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 59.92%. Specifically, interest income reached 8.752 billion yuan, up 14.25% year-on-year, while interest expenses were 4.854 billion yuan, down 7.07% year-on-year. The increase in net interest income was attributed to both expanded credit asset deployment driving interest-earning asset growth, and the continuous reduction in deposit interest rates, which improved NIM.
Additionally, Guiyang Bank and Zijin Bank recorded the largest NIM declines, ranking at the bottom among the 42 A-share listed banks.
Data source: iFinD and corporate announcements. NIM change calculated as 2025 interim NIM minus 2024 interim NIM, measured in percentage points.
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