In the final year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) officially entered the "50 trillion yuan era." On the evening of March 27, ICBC disclosed its 2025 annual report, showing positive growth in both operating revenue and net profit. The bank reported operating revenue of 838.28 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2%. Net profit reached 370.766 billion yuan, an increase of 3.82 billion yuan from the previous year, representing a 1% growth. Against a backdrop of heightened global economic volatility and industry-wide pressure, ICBC achieved a balance between scale and efficiency. As of the end of the reporting period, ICBC's total assets amounted to 53.48 trillion yuan, up 9.5% year-on-year. The average return on total assets was 0.72%, and the weighted average return on equity was 9.45%.
At the results briefing held the same day, ICBC President Liu Jun stated that in the face of a complex and changing external environment, the bank has consistently improved the quality, efficiency, revenue, profit, structure, and various other metrics of its operations while adhering to its commitment to serving the real economy.
**Total Assets Break Through 50 Trillion Yuan; Interest Income Expected to Inflect in Current Year**
While the banking industry generally faces slowing asset growth, ICBC maintained a steady pace of expansion. By the end of 2025, the total assets of the ICBC group officially surpassed the new milestone of 50 trillion yuan, reaching 53.48 trillion yuan, a 9.5% increase, solidifying its position as a dominant player.
In 2025, influenced by concessions to the real economy and reductions in the Loan Prime Rate (LPR), ICBC's net interest margin narrowed to 1.28%, down from 1.42% in 2024, and the net interest spread fell to 1.15%. Consequently, net interest income was 635.126 billion yuan, showing a slight decline compared to the previous year.
Furthermore, ICBC explicitly stated it would not engage in "price wars" and opposes "involution-style" competition. In 2025, the average interest rate paid on its deposits was 1.36%, a significant decrease of 36 basis points from the previous year. This strategy of reducing high-cost liabilities to offset the decline in loan yields led to a noticeably smaller contraction in the net interest margin during the second half of the year.
At the results briefing, Vice President Yao Mingde indicated that while loan yields are expected to continue their downward trend in 2026, the rate of decline is projected to narrow significantly. Factors favorable to improving net interest margin performance are accumulating, and the trend toward marginal stabilization is likely to continue. "Our basic assessment is that the interest margin in 2026 will most likely follow an L-shaped trajectory," Yao Mingde stated. "Barring further substantial adjustments to the LPR or deposit benchmark rates, we anticipate that ICBC's net interest income will turn positive year-on-year in 2026, marking an inflection point, and the decline in the net interest margin will also narrow further compared to 2025."
Looking ahead, Yao Mingde said ICBC will persistently focus on its core responsibilities in industrial finance and leverage its professional expertise in commercial banking. The bank will continue optimizing its major asset allocations, scientifically manage credit distribution, and strengthen refined cost control to keep changes in the net interest margin within a reasonable range.
Amid the pressure on interest income, non-interest income became the stabilizing foundation for operating revenue. In 2025, ICBC's non-interest income reached 203.144 billion yuan, an increase of 10.2%, accounting for 24.2% of operating revenue, up 1.8 percentage points year-on-year. Within this, net fee and commission income was 111.171 billion yuan, reversing an industry-wide decline by increasing 1.774 billion yuan, a growth of 1.6%. Other non-interest income was 91.973 billion yuan, an increase of 16.972 billion yuan, representing a 22.6% growth.
Simultaneously, ICBC maintained its "generous" dividend tradition. The total cash dividend proposed for 2025 is 110.593 billion yuan, with a dividend per 10 shares of 3.103 yuan (before tax). President Liu Jun specifically mentioned at the briefing, "Looking at our dividend yield, the current overall return is significantly higher than comparable investment products and wealth management products, indicating that ICBC possesses considerable investment value."
**Personal Financial Business Profit Soars 43.6%; Customer Base Exceeds 770 Million**
ICBC's main operating segments are Corporate Financial Business, Personal Financial Business, and Treasury Operations. In 2025, the Corporate Financial Business remained the primary source of income, generating 4,106.76 billion yuan, accounting for 49% of revenue. Both the amount and proportion were higher than in 2024. The financial report shows that corporate loans reached 18.84 trillion yuan by the end of last year, an increase of 1.36 trillion yuan from the end of the previous year, up 7.8%. Corporate deposits stood at 16.35 trillion yuan, increasing by 843.188 billion yuan, a growth of 5.4%. The number of corporate clients reached 14.7459 million, adding 1.3973 million new clients.
Corporate credit has always been a traditional strength for ICBC. At the results presentation, Vice President Wang Jingwu detailed the strategy for corporate credit in 2026. He emphasized that ICBC will focus on the core task of "building a modern industrial system" by leveraging market-oriented service layouts, major project initiatives, and a customer-centric approach to enhance its comprehensive service capabilities.
The profit contribution from the Personal Financial Business increased significantly. In 2025, revenue from ICBC's Personal Financial Business was 3,277.39 billion yuan, accounting for 39.1% of operating revenue. Profit was 1,417.64 billion yuan, a substantial increase of 43.6% year-on-year, with its share of total profit rising from 23.4% to 33.4%. By the end of 2025, personal financial assets under management reached 25.37 trillion yuan, maintaining a leading position in the market. Personal deposits amounted to 20.2 trillion yuan, increasing by 1.66 trillion yuan, a growth of 9%. Personal loans reached 9 trillion yuan, increasing by 44.916 billion yuan, up 0.5%. As of the end of 2025, the number of personal customers exceeded 780 million. Mobile banking customers numbered 18.94 million, with a monthly average of 8.36 million active users, ranking first in the industry in both customer scale and activity.
Regarding asset quality, the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio at the end of 2025 was 1.31%, a further decrease from 2024, marking the fifth consecutive year of decline. The provision coverage ratio remained high at 213.60%, and the capital adequacy ratio stood at 18.76%.
Vice President Wang Jingwu noted at the briefing that pressure on managing asset quality in the inclusive finance and personal loan segments has increased, a common challenge across the industry. However, he added, "ICBC consistently adheres to safeguarding the bottom line. Currently, credit risks in these two segments are overall controllable, and provision allocation is sufficient." Addressing risks in personal loans, Wang Jingwu revealed that ICBC has established a Personal Credit Business Department to achieve intensive and specialized management of personal loan operations. Through coordinated controls across three lines of defense, the upward trend in personal loan deterioration has begun to slow.
Notably, ICBC's 2025 annual report provided, for the first time, a detailed quantitative account of its "intelligent risk control" outcomes. The report indicates that its self-developed intelligent risk control system enables穿透式 monitoring of all assets and entire business processes. The workload handled by AI digital employees in 2025 was equivalent to 55,000 person-years.
Comments