Data recently disclosed by the National Financial Regulatory Administration shows that by the end of 2025, the total assets of commercial banks reached 414.79 trillion yuan, an increase of 9% compared to the end of the previous year and a rise of 0.2 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. Against the backdrop of deposit migration, the total liabilities of commercial banks maintained rapid growth. By the end of 2025, total liabilities stood at 383.29 trillion yuan, up 9.2% year-on-year, with the growth rate also 0.2 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.
Industry experts pointed out that even if some deposits shift towards wealth management and asset management products, most of these funds are ultimately channeled into interbank deposits and certificates of deposit, which flow back into the banking system. This represents more of a change in the structure of bank deposits rather than a reduction in total liquidity. From the perspective of total assets, commercial banks continued to grow at a relatively high speed by the end of 2025, supported by sustained strong credit extension.
Experts noted that after adjusting for the impact of local government debt resolution, the growth rate of RMB loans at the end of 2025 was still around 7%, indicating continued robust credit support. By the end of 2025, loans for technology, green development, inclusive finance, the elderly care industry, and the digital economy increased by 11.5%, 20.2%, 10.9%, 50.5%, and 14.1% year-on-year, respectively. Loans in these key sectors maintained double-digit growth, consistently exceeding the growth rate of total loans.
As China's economic structure accelerates its transformation and upgrading, financial services need to align with the requirements of high-quality economic development. Implementing the "Five Key Financial Areas" is a clear directive from the Central Financial Work Conference. The central bank has placed greater emphasis on supporting the optimization and transformation of the economic structure, actively guiding financial institutions to strengthen support for key areas such as expanding domestic demand, technological innovation, and small and micro enterprises.
In January of this year, the central bank introduced a package of monetary and financial policy measures through a State Council Information Office press conference, which were also primarily related to structural tools. Currently, the central bank's relending facilities have achieved full coverage of the "Five Key Financial Areas," with the toolkit becoming increasingly refined.
Behind the sustained rapid growth of bank credit lies continuous optimization of policy guidance and incentives. The China Monetary Policy Execution Report for the fourth quarter of 2025 mentioned that many green projects involve large investments, long cycles, and certain positive externalities, requiring appropriate policy incentives to reduce the costs of green transformation. The central bank established an 800 billion yuan carbon reduction support facility to incentivize financial institutions to increase credit support for key areas such as clean energy, energy conservation, environmental protection, and carbon reduction technologies.
During this period, the policy implementation effect was further enhanced by pilot programs to expand supported sectors, increase the number of eligible financial institutions, and reduce relending interest rates. Concurrently, an evaluation framework was developed in line with the overall requirements for developing green finance. This framework incorporates indicators such as financial institutions' green loans, green bonds, mechanism development, product innovation, and carbon accounting and disclosure, strengthening the use of evaluation results to incentivize institutions to enhance their comprehensive green financial service capabilities.
Against the backdrop of deposit migration, the growth in the banking sector's total liabilities is noteworthy. From the perspective of financial institution deposits, by the end of 2025, the balance of domestic and foreign currency deposits in financial institutions was 336.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.0%, with an increase of 27.8 trillion yuan since the beginning of the year. The balance of RMB deposits was 328.6 trillion yuan, up 8.7% year-on-year, increasing by 26.4 trillion yuan from the start of the year. The balance of foreign currency deposits was 1.1 trillion US dollars, rising by 213.5 billion US dollars since the beginning of the year.
Industry experts indicated that against the backdrop of declining interest rates in recent years, some households and enterprises may adjust their asset allocations, shifting more funds towards bank wealth management and asset management products. From a broader societal perspective, even if some deposits move to these products, most funds are invested in interbank deposits and certificates of deposit, ultimately returning to the banking system. This is essentially more of a change in the structure of bank deposits and does not affect the total amount of liquidity.
In the long term, as China's financial markets deepen and investment channels become more diversified, residents will rationally adjust their asset allocations between deposits and other assets based on different returns. Future household asset allocation is likely to become more flexible.
The Q4 2025 China Monetary Policy Execution Report stated that it should be recognized that if residents convert deposits into asset management products, and these products invest in interbank deposits and certificates of deposit, it directly increases non-bank institutions' deposits at banks. If they invest in other underlying assets, the funds ultimately transform into deposits of enterprises and related institutions. In terms of final allocation, the funds flow back into the banking system.
The report further proposed that by combining asset management products and bank deposits for consideration, using a balance sheet approach and eliminating transactions between asset managers and banks, it helps to comprehensively assess the relationship between asset management products, deposit structure, and societal liquidity conditions, better reflecting the overall liquidity changes in the financial system. Aggregating liquid financial instruments held by the non-financial sector, such as currency, deposits, and funds raised by asset management products, can serve as a reference indicator for the total liquidity. Data shows that this indicator grew by approximately 8.1% year-on-year at the end of 2025, maintaining a stable growth trend in recent years.
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