On February 12, the National Financial Regulatory Administration released key regulatory data for the banking sector in the fourth quarter of 2025. Overall, the total assets of China's banking industry continued to expand. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the total assets of banking financial institutions reached 480 trillion yuan, marking an 8.0% increase year-on-year. Among these, commercial banks held total assets of 414.79 trillion yuan, up 9.0% from the previous year, accounting for 86.4% of the banking sector's total assets.
The trend of asset concentration in large commercial banks persisted. Data showed that by the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the total assets of large commercial banks exceeded 210 trillion yuan, growing 10.8% year-on-year. These institutions represented 43.9% of the banking sector's total assets, the highest share among all types of banks. This proportion remained unchanged from the end of the third quarter of 2025 but increased by 0.6 percentage points from the end of the first quarter of the same year.
Meanwhile, joint-stock commercial banks accounted for 16.2% of the banking sector's total assets, up 0.1 percentage points from the end of the third quarter of 2025. City commercial banks held a 13.7% share, down 0.1 percentage points. Rural financial institutions and other types of financial institutions represented 12.7% and 13.5% of total assets, respectively, with the former declining 0.2 percentage points and the latter rising 0.1 percentage points compared to the end of the third quarter of 2025.
The banking sector enhanced its support for the real economy. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the outstanding balance of inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises stood at 37 trillion yuan, an 11.0% year-on-year increase. The balance of inclusive agricultural loans reached 14.2 trillion yuan, rising 10.3% from a year earlier.
Tian Lihui, a finance professor at Nankai University, commented that the banking sector delivered a performance in the fourth quarter of 2025 characterized by stable growth, optimized structure, and solid quality. The continued growth in total assets and their concentration in large banks reflect the combined effects of market dynamics and regulatory guidance. The rapid expansion of inclusive small and micro enterprise loans indicates an improvement in the quality and efficiency of financial services to the real economy.
In terms of profitability, commercial banks achieved a cumulative net profit of 2.4 trillion yuan for the full year of 2025. By the end of the fourth quarter, the average return on equity for commercial banks was 7.78%, while the average return on assets was 0.60%, both continuing a downward trend. The net interest margin for commercial banks remained at 1.42% by the end of the fourth quarter, unchanged from the second and third quarters of 2025.
Analyzed by bank type, the net interest margins of joint-stock commercial banks, city commercial banks, private banks, and rural commercial banks either held steady or improved compared to the end of the third quarter of 2025. In contrast, large commercial banks and foreign banks experienced declines.
Specifically, the net interest margins of large commercial banks and foreign banks were 1.30% and 1.32%, down 0.01 and 0.03 percentage points, respectively, from the end of the third quarter. Joint-stock commercial banks, city commercial banks, and private banks maintained their margins at 1.56%, 1.37%, and 3.83%, respectively. Rural commercial banks saw their net interest margin rise to 1.60%, an increase of 0.02 percentage points.
Lou Feipeng, a researcher at China Postal Savings Bank, noted that the net interest margin of commercial banks remained stable at 1.42% for three consecutive quarters in 2025, showing signs of resilience. Declining liability costs have offset pricing pressures on the asset side, supporting the margin's stability.
Looking ahead to 2026, Lou believes that while there is downward pressure on net interest margins, the decline is likely to be limited, supported by regulatory efforts to stabilize margins and the deepening of market-based adjustment mechanisms for deposit rates.
The credit asset quality of commercial banks remained generally stable, with ample risk resilience. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the non-performing loan balance of commercial banks stood at 3.5 trillion yuan, a reduction of 24.1 billion yuan from the end of the third quarter. The non-performing loan ratio was 1.50%, down 0.02 percentage points. The provision coverage ratio was 205.21%, and the loan provision ratio was 3.07%.
The non-performing loan ratios for large commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks, city commercial banks, private banks, rural commercial banks, and foreign banks were 1.22%, 1.21%, 1.82%, 1.68%, 2.72%, and 0.97%, respectively. Among these, the ratio for large commercial banks remained unchanged from the end of the third quarter of 2025, while other types of banks saw varying degrees of improvement.
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