CITIC BANK has shown signs of stabilizing its revenue trajectory. For the full year 2025, the bank reported operating revenue of 212.475 billion yuan, a slight decrease of 0.55% year-on-year. Entering the first quarter of 2026, quarterly revenue reached 54.649 billion yuan, rebounding by 5.23% compared to the same period last year, surpassing market expectations of continued negative growth. This recovery was primarily driven by a slower decline in net interest margin. For the full year 2025, the net interest margin was 1.63%, down 14 basis points year-on-year. By the first quarter of 2026, the net interest margin stood at 1.61%, indicating relative stability. In an environment of LPR reductions, CITIC BANK managed to offset the impact by reducing high-cost liabilities. In 2025, the cost rate of personal deposits decreased by 33 basis points to 1.73%. Combined with total assets of 10.24 trillion yuan in the first quarter, net interest income grew by 1.66% year-on-year, reflecting a business strategy of compensating for price pressures with volume.
The growth in non-interest income was another key factor driving revenue. In the first quarter of 2026, the bank's non-interest net income reached 18.379 billion yuan, an increase of 13.07% year-on-year. Looking back at 2025, fees from wealth management business grew by 45.17% year-on-year, with the wealth management segment partially offsetting the slowdown in traditional credit business growth. Additionally, net cash flow from operating activities in the first quarter was 188.185 billion yuan, up 395.31% year-on-year. The financial report attributed this mainly to increased cash inflows from interbank transactions, reflecting active fund circulation in the interbank market.
In terms of asset quality, CITIC BANK's credit business exhibited significant structural divergence. Overall, the non-performing loan ratio decreased to 1.15% at the end of 2025 and remained at that level in the first quarter of 2026. A detailed breakdown reveals improving credit quality in corporate business: previously concerning data related to real estate and local government debt showed a decline. In 2025, the outstanding balance of loans for local government implicit debt was 75.364 billion yuan, a reduction of 62.539 billion yuan from the end of the previous year, with a non-performing loan ratio of 0.19%. However, asset quality in the retail segment faced cyclical pressure, as macroeconomic fluctuations impacted household balance sheets. By the end of 2025, the non-performing loan ratio for personal loans increased by 0.07 percentage points to 1.32%. Affected by weak income expectations, the non-performing loan ratio for personal consumption loans rose to 2.80%, up 0.66 percentage points from the end of the previous year, while the credit card non-performing loan ratio reached 2.62%. By the first quarter of 2026, the non-performing loan ratio for personal housing loans further increased slightly by 0.11 percentage points to 0.52%.
Regarding write-offs and provisions, CITIC BANK disposed of 87.79 billion yuan in non-performing loans in 2025, maintaining strong recovery and restructuring efforts. The provision coverage ratio slightly decreased to 202.45% in the first quarter of 2026, indicating the bank is steadily utilizing part of its provisions to write off non-performing assets, maintaining overall asset quality stability on the books and balancing retail risk exposure with improvements in corporate quality.
In terms of capital and shareholder returns, CITIC BANK continued its high dividend distribution. For the full year 2025, the proposed total cash dividend amounted to 10.74 billion yuan. Combined with the interim dividend, the full-year dividend reached 21.201 billion yuan, with a dividend payout ratio of 31.75% of net profit attributable to the parent company, hitting a record high. As of the end of the first quarter of 2026, the core tier 1 capital adequacy ratio stood at 9.33%, remaining stable even as total assets surpassed 10 trillion yuan.
Overall, CITIC BANK's current business focus lies in stabilizing corporate operations, defending retail business, and hedging with non-interest income. The return to positive revenue growth in the first quarter demonstrates the positive impact of liability-side cost control on profit flexibility. As exposure to real estate and local government debt gradually contracts, changes in asset quality for personal consumption loans and credit card businesses have become key indicators for assessing the bank's future risk profile. For investors focused on defensive strategies and high-dividend logic, while enjoying a 31.75% dividend return, it is essential to continuously monitor the subsequent performance of early delinquency indicators in retail credit in the latter half of the year.
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