Fill in the gaps in agency products, with multiple small and medium-sized banks breaking the ice in agency business

Source: Huaxia Times

Author: Lu Mengxue

The narrowing interest rate spread is forcing small and medium-sized banks to find new ways out.

For a long time, due to resource investment, talent reserves, and regulatory ratings, small and medium-sized banks have had obvious gaps in their distribution business. In recent months, reporters have noticed that many small and medium-sized banks have broken the ice in distribution:代理贵金属、保险、理财、信托等业务相继落地，中小银行正加速从传统存贷机构向综合化财富管理平台转型。

Related analysts point out that compared to nationwide banks, small and medium-sized banks have advantages in geography and kinship, and face-to-face recommendations are often more convincing than online advertising. But it should be noted that the essence of developing distribution business for small and medium-sized banks is not to compete for high-end clients with national banks, but to deepen in the local market, meet clients’ diversified investment and wealth management needs, and build a “professional and trustworthy” wealth management service image.

Small and medium-sized banks’ distribution business is expanding in multiple locations

By 2026, the pace of distribution business implementation by small and medium-sized banks has clearly accelerated.

Recently, Guizhou Fenggang Rural Commercial Bank announced the official launch of its insurance代理业务。该行方面指出，该业务启动当日，办理首单“骑行保”非机动车责任保险，实现从“零到一”，拓展金融“中间”服务新业务，进一步提升服务“三农”水平。

Meanwhile, Jiangyin Rural Commercial Bank successfully launched its first trust distribution product. The product, issued by Huaxin Trust, focuses on high-net-worth client asset allocation needs and aims to provide long-term wealth appreciation solutions. When answering institutional investors’ questions, Jiangyin Bank clearly stated that its 2026 strategic layout will focus on intermediary business income as the core growth engine, emphasizing wealth management, enriching product matrix, and strengthening online-offline synergy.

Looking further back, more small and medium-sized banks’ distribution “breakthrough” journeys have quietly begun.

In January this year, Huaining Rural Commercial Bank officially launched its car insurance代理业务; in December 2025, Guangrao Rural Commercial Bank completed its first insurance代理业务; in August, Nanxiong Rural Commercial Bank held a special meeting to announce the official development of brand gold代理业务。

Liao Hekai, an analyst at Jinle Function, told Huaxia Times that for small and medium-sized banks, in the context of giants squeezing the payment sector and high thresholds for custodial services,代理金融产品 is currently the most promising and operational growth point, which can directly convert the bank’s channels and customer resources into billable services. Against the backdrop of narrowing traditional deposit and loan spreads, distribution business is one of the most important tools for small and medium-sized banks to achieve business transformation.

Additionally, regulatory control and standardization of proprietary wealth management业务也是影响因素之一。廖鹤凯指出，当前银行理财子公司牌照审批长期停滞，门槛很高。代理销售成为这些银行继续参与财富管理市场、留住客户的唯一合规且可持续的途径。

“同时，《商业银行代理销售业务管理办法》的出台，为中小银行规范、有序地开展代销业务提供了清晰的‘操作手册’和坚实的政策基础，标志着代销业务进入规范发展的新阶段。”廖鹤凯认为，制度规范增强了中小银行代销业务的意愿，中小银行凭借本地渠道优势成为“持牌金融机构”发行产品下沉市场的重要伙伴。

银登中心最新发布的《中国银行业理财市场年度报告（2025年）》从宏观层面印证了这一趋势。数据显示，2025年12月，全市场共有593家机构跨行代销了理财公司发行的理财产品，较2025年年初增加31家。这31家新增机构中，绝大多数来自农村金融机构和城商行系统。

但记者注意到，中小银行间代销业务的发展呈现不均衡的特征。仅从农村金融机构来看，在部分银行刚刚实现代销业务“从零到一”突破的同时，早已有部分银行设立了专业的财富管理部门，财富管理业务迎来专业化发展。

上市银行中，上海农商行在2023年就已经成立了财富管理及私人银行部门；重庆农商行也成立了财富管理部。未上市银行中，浙江慈溪农商行在2022年底就已成立财富管理部，广东南海农商银行已在今年2月正式揭牌成立财富管理部暨支行财富中心。

更多银行也表达了对财富管理业务的重视。青农商行在接受调研时表示，2026年将聚力财富管理体系建设，推动财富管理组织架构落地，组建财富管理队伍，形成总分支三级联动、协同发力的高端客户运营体系等。张家口农商银行在内部会议上也明确提出，要在已开办代销保险、贵金属业务的基础上，深入落实省联社关于开展代销理财业务的安排部署，加速形成“存款替代+财富增值”的代销产品体系。

Interest rate spread narrowing is forcing banks to seek new ways

A report from CITIC Financial Holdings shows that by the end of June 2025, China’s residents’ investable assets have exceeded 300 trillion yuan, with the total domestic asset management scale around 170 trillion yuan. About 130 trillion yuan of “dormant” assets indicate huge potential for future wealth management demand.

Currently, bank wealth management业务主要以代销为主，包括理财、保险、基金等，代销带来的手续费收入成为财富管理业务的主要来源。

In the context of continued narrowing of bank interest spreads and deepening retail transformation, large banks have already built a moat in distribution业务 through their branch network, technological strength, and brand effect. For regional small and medium-sized banks limited by resource input, talent reserves, and regulatory ratings, finding their positioning and building differentiated competitiveness are key to successful wealth management transformation.

Dong Ximiao, chief researcher at Zhaolian, analyzed for Huaxia Times that compared to nationwide banks, small and medium-sized banks (especially rural financial institutions) often have branches deep in counties and villages, with long-term trust relationships based on geography and kinship. This “familiar finance” ecosystem makes clients highly dependent on banks, providing a natural trust foundation for distribution conversion. For risk-averse clients, face-to-face recommendations by bank staff are often more convincing than online ads. Compared to nationwide banks, small and medium-sized banks have flatter organizational structures, allowing faster response when introducing distribution products, developing marketing strategies, and implementing incentive policies. This flexibility enables them to quickly establish cooperation with suitable asset management institutions (such as wealth management, funds, insurance) to launch targeted and personalized product combinations.

However, it should also be noted that Dong emphasized that the core of distribution business is product selection and allocation. Most small and medium-sized banks lack professional investment research teams, making it difficult to evaluate and select distribution products thoroughly, which may lead to homogenized product shelves mainly consisting of low-risk wealth management and insurance products,难以有效满足客户多元化需求。如果盲目引入高风险产品，可能引发“爆雷”事件，损害客户信任和银行声誉。因此，发展代销业务，需要一支懂产品、懂市场、懂客户的理财经理和产品经理队伍。但中小银行普遍面临核心人才短缺、专业培训不足、激励机制错位等问题。很多机构网点仍以“任务式销售”为主，可能存在误导销售、风险错配等隐患，难以建立真正的财富管理服务体系。

记者注意到，本轮中小银行代销业务拓展呈现“集团作战”的特点。以张家口农商行为代表的多家银行，其业务推进背后均有省联社的统一部署和资源支持。省联社在系统建设、产品准入、风险管控等方面的统筹协调，为基层农商行开展代销业务提供了重要支撑。这种“省联社搭台、农商行唱戏”的模式，在一定程度上缓解了中小银行在科技投入、人才储备等方面的短板。

与此同时，也有中小银行在探索财富管理业务的差异化路径。有的银行将代销业务与乡村振兴战略结合，推出面向“三农”客户的专属保险产品；有的银行发挥本地产业链优势，围绕核心企业上下游客户设计综合金融服务方案；还有的银行尝试将代销业务与社保卡、养老金账户等民生服务场景深度融合。

“总的来说，中小银行发展代销业务的本质，不是与全国性银行争夺高端客户，而是在本土市场深耕，满足客户多元化投资理财需求。未来能够胜出的，未必是规模最大的，而是那些能在本地市场构建起‘专业可信赖’财富管理服务形象的银行。”董希淼表示。

责任编辑：冯樱子 主编：张志伟