Recently, Bank of Zhengzhou Co.,Ltd. has attracted multiple strategic investments from insurance companies.
Hongkang Life Insurance has been continuously increasing its holdings of Bank of Zhengzhou H-shares in the secondary market, which is viewed as insurance capital's relative optimism toward the bank. The primary reason lies in Bank of Zhengzhou's profit recovery and the implementation of dividend payments.
While Bank of Zhengzhou achieved profitability for four consecutive years previously, it did not distribute dividends during that period. In 2024, the bank distributed cash dividends of approximately 182 million yuan, with a dividend payout ratio of 9.69%, ranking at the bottom among 42 listed banks in terms of dividend ratio.
As of the first half of 2025, Bank of Zhengzhou's undistributed profits totaled 17.083 billion yuan.
While insurance capital has entered the market, some shareholders have also reduced their holdings.
During the first half of this year, two shareholders of Bank of Zhengzhou reduced their stakes. Henan Guoyuan Trading reduced its holdings by 88.8 million shares, bringing its shareholding ratio to 2.55%. Yutai International (Henan) Real Estate Development reduced its holdings by 90 million shares, bringing its shareholding ratio to 1.86%.
Bank of Zhengzhou itself faces risks from shareholder equity pledging and freezing. As of the end of the first half of 2025, 1.255 billion ordinary shares of the bank (accounting for 13.81% of the total issued ordinary shares) were pledged, and 564 million ordinary shares were subject to freezing.
Change has become a key theme for Bank of Zhengzhou in the first half of the year.
During the first half, 11 senior executives and board members departed from Bank of Zhengzhou. This included three vice presidents and three president assistants: Fu Chunqiao, Guo Zhibin, Sun Haigang, Li Hong, Liu Jiuqing, and Li Lei, as well as five board directors: Wang Dan, Wang Shihao, Li Yanyan, Li Shuxian, and Song Ke.
The reasons for their departures included term expiration, personal reasons, health reasons, and work-related reasons.
Currently, Bank of Zhengzhou's management team, under Chairman Zhao Fei's leadership, consists of only four remaining senior executives: President Li Hong, Board Secretary Han Huili, Vice President Sun Runhua, and President Assistant Zhang Houlin.
Li Hong only assumed his position at the beginning of this year, highlighting Bank of Zhengzhou's urgent need to supplement its management team.
As the first A+H dual-listed city commercial bank in China, Bank of Zhengzhou finally returned to a state of dual growth in revenue and net profit in the first half.
In the first half of 2025, Bank of Zhengzhou achieved operating revenue of 6.69 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.64%, and realized net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.627 billion yuan, up 2.1% compared to the same period last year.
Net interest income reached 5.351 billion yuan, up 1.04% year-on-year, accounting for 79.98% of operating revenue. Business scale adjustments contributed to a 406 million yuan increase in net interest income, while changes in yield or cost rates led to a 351 million yuan decrease in net interest income.
Non-interest net income totaled 1.339 billion yuan, up 22.02% year-on-year, accounting for 20.02% of operating revenue. Fee and commission net income was 234 million yuan, down 32 million yuan from the same period last year. Other non-interest income was 1.105 billion yuan, up 32.89% year-on-year.
The growth rate of non-interest net income exceeded that of net interest income. During the period, Bank of Zhengzhou's investment income reached 1.229 billion yuan, up 111.1% year-on-year.
From a business segment revenue perspective, Bank of Zhengzhou's treasury business showed the most significant growth.
In the first half of this year, the bank's corporate banking business revenue was 3.54 billion yuan, down 3.9% year-on-year, accounting for 53.01% of total revenue. Retail banking business revenue was 1.235 billion yuan, up 3.5% year-on-year, accounting for 18.47%. Treasury business revenue was 1.895 billion yuan, up 29.7% year-on-year, accounting for 28.33%.
Bank of Zhengzhou's corporate banking business needs strengthening.
As of the end of the first half of 2025, the bank's non-performing loan balance was 7.165 billion yuan, with a non-performing loan ratio of 1.76%, down 0.03 percentage points from the end of the previous year. The non-performing loan ratio for corporate loans (excluding bill discounting) was 2.07%, up 0.02 percentage points from the end of the previous year.
Moreover, Bank of Zhengzhou's corporate loan non-performing ratio is higher than its personal loan non-performing ratio. In the first half, the bank's personal loan non-performing ratio was 1.56%, unchanged from the end of the previous year.
The bank's corporate loan non-performing loans are mainly concentrated in real estate, wholesale and retail trade, and leasing and business services, with non-performing loan ratios of 9.75%, 3.84%, and 1.04%, respectively.
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