Joint-stock banks' New Year plans: Deploy heavy forces to expand financial market business Strategic breakthrough under interest rate margin pressure

Cailian Press, February 13 (Editor: Li Xiang) — Amid the ongoing narrowing of net interest margins and tightening capital constraints, the planned strategies of joint-stock banks for 2026 are increasingly focusing on expanding their financial market businesses.

Cailian Press notes that as of February 13, except for Minsheng Bank and Bohai Bank, which have not yet held their 2026 annual work meetings, the remaining 10 joint-stock banks have all convened meetings to comprehensively plan their priorities for the new year. Among these, some banks have explicitly emphasized strengthening their financial market business deployment in their 2026 key work arrangements. Analysts believe that light-capital, high-turnover financial market activities have become a core lever for joint-stock banks to optimize revenue structures and achieve strategic breakthroughs.

Multiple joint-stock banks clarify development strategies for financial market businesses

From the specific deployments of various banks, the professional and refined management of financial market operations has become a common direction. Each bank has tailored differentiated development strategies based on its own advantages.

Everbright Bank proposed to adhere to differentiated development and build distinctive strengths, making the professional management of financial market business one of its key focuses. By increasing the contribution of intermediary income from wealth management, investment banking, custody, and other services, the bank aims to promote steady revenue growth. It also plans to leverage digital and intelligent transformation to empower its financial market operations, simultaneously improving deposit costs and enhancing customer management value.

Hengfeng Bank’s Zhengzhou branch announced that it will focus on breaking through with light capital, strengthening its core areas such as bond underwriting, wealth management agency, and trade finance, to build up its investment banking and transaction banking businesses, and continuously expand non-interest income channels.

Guangfa Bank and Zheshang Bank have further elevated financial market business to a strategic engine level. Guangfa Bank positions interbank and corporate banking, as well as retail banking, as its three main growth engines. It aims to leverage EVA/RAROC value-driven “guidance” to maximize risk-adjusted returns through financial market activities, directing limited capital precisely toward “profitable and stable” sectors. Zheshang Bank emphasizes a five-pronged strategy linking corporate and financial markets, interest and non-interest income, fostering synergy between financial market operations and corporate business, which has become an important support for growth in fee income.

Financial market business as a core strategic breakthrough for joint-stock banks

As the core segment connecting banks to the open markets of currencies, bonds, foreign exchange, commodities, and derivatives, financial market operations differ from traditional credit and retail businesses. They are typical light-capital, high-turnover intermediary activities with certain countercyclical properties. In the current environment of persistent narrowing net interest margins, financial market business has become the most direct and sizable sector for increasing non-interest income, effectively improving banks’ revenue structures and reducing reliance on traditional lending.

“From a cost-benefit perspective, non-interest income is the most cost-effective and exerts the least pressure on capital adequacy,” said an industry insider. This is a key reason why joint-stock banks are ramping up their focus on financial markets. Meanwhile, the gradual recovery of capital markets has created a favorable external environment for development, supporting steady growth in wealth management, fund distribution, and other fee-based services. In a low-interest-rate environment, structured opportunities still exist in financial investment activities. As banks strengthen liability quality management and cut customer acquisition and operational costs, financial investment businesses are driving rapid growth in related non-interest income, becoming a new profit growth point.

The capital advantage of state-owned large banks further compels joint-stock banks to accelerate their shift toward light-capital transformation, which also forms an important industry backdrop for increasing their financial market activities.

It is understood that in 2025, the central government issued 500 billion yuan in special national bonds, injecting capital into Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank. In 2026, additional capital injections are expected for Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China, further strengthening the capital base of state-owned banks. Compared to these, joint-stock banks lack the capacity for capital supplementation and find it difficult to compete head-to-head with state-owned banks in heavy-capital, pro-cyclical lending sectors. Transitioning to light-capital, stable-cyclicality financial market activities has become an inevitable choice for differentiated competition.

“Structural changes in market demand also provide a practical foundation for the development of joint-stock banks’ financial market businesses. Corporate clients’ financial needs have shifted from simple financing to comprehensive services, with increasing demand for liquidity management, interest rate and exchange rate hedging,” said a financial market professional from a joint-stock bank. By embedding financial market tools into corporate and retail scenarios, banks can not only directly increase non-interest income share but also enhance the overall contribution of front-end clients.

“From a macro perspective, there is also a trend of internal restructuring within the banking industry,” said the aforementioned industry insider. On one hand, traditional corporate and retail front-end businesses are experiencing declining yields due to low interest rates, homogeneous competition, and risk aversion, with margins shrinking under the “scale chasing and price competition” model. Relying solely on credit issuance is no longer sustainable. On the other hand, the value of traditional middle and back-office functions like trading and financial markets is being re-evaluated, with their role as hubs connecting funds, assets, and clients becoming increasingly prominent—shifting from supporting functions to core profit drivers.

Experts point out that under the broader context of financial market openness, the development of financial market activities is a core strategic pivot for banks transitioning from “heavy capital, pro-cyclicality, and reliance on credit” to “light capital, stable cycles, and comprehensive finance.” The pricing, trading, and market-making capabilities within financial markets are becoming key indicators of the core competitiveness of joint-stock banks and will be crucial in future battles over profit structures, capital efficiency, and market competitiveness.