China CITIC Bank has entered the phase of achieving a total asset scale of 10 trillion yuan. In recent years, under the leadership of Chairman Fang Heying, the bank has aggressively pursued growth in scale. In 2023 and 2024, the bank's total assets increased by 5.91% and 5.31%, respectively. By 2025, the growth rate of total assets reached 6.28%.
Amid an industry-wide trend of reducing branch networks and cutting costs to improve efficiency, China CITIC Bank has demonstrated several notable changes. Firstly, the number of its business outlets has increased. By the end of 2025, the bank operated 1,484 outlets across 153 major and medium-sized cities in China, compared to 1,470 outlets in 2024, marking an addition of 14 outlets within a year.
Secondly, the bank's employee count has risen. Financial reports indicate that by the end of 2025, the number of employees exceeded 67,000, up from over 65,000 at the end of the previous year. Employee costs also continued to grow, reaching 40.236 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 1.39%. Based on a simple calculation using employee costs, the average monthly salary per employee at China CITIC Bank in 2025 was approximately 50,000 yuan.
Thirdly, compensation for directors, supervisors, and senior management increased. In 2025, the total remuneration received by these executives from the bank amounted to 25.25 million yuan, an increase of 670,000 yuan from the 24.58 million yuan recorded in the previous year.
However, while pursuing asset scale growth, the bank's operating revenue has not kept pace. In 2025, China CITIC Bank achieved operating revenue of 212.475 billion yuan, a decrease of 0.55% compared to the previous year. Specifically, net interest income was 144.469 billion yuan, down 1.51% year-on-year, while non-interest income reached 68.006 billion yuan, an increase of 1.55%.
Both the net interest margin and net interest spread of China CITIC Bank declined. During the period, the net interest margin was 1.63%, down 0.14 percentage points from the previous year, and the net interest spread was 1.60%, a decrease of 0.11 percentage points.
On the other hand, the bank has made efforts to reduce costs. In 2025, operating expenses totaled 128.801 billion yuan, a decrease of 2.95% year-on-year. Within this, business and management expenses were 67.159 billion yuan, a reduction of 2.251 billion yuan or 3.24% compared to the previous year. The cost-to-income ratio for the period was 31.61%, down 0.88 percentage points from the previous year.
From a business segment perspective, the profitability of the retail banking division declined. In 2025, revenue from the retail banking business was 79.367 billion yuan, a decrease of 7.37% year-on-year, while pre-tax profit was 5.303 billion yuan, down 42.54%.
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