Ping An Bank's retail turning point emerges, with the president stating "the hardest year is over"! | Live coverage of the earnings release conference

This newspaper (chinatimes.net.cn) reporter Liu Jia, Beijing report

On the afternoon of March 23, Ping An Bank held its 2025 annual performance briefing session. The president Ji Guangheng, together with the chief financial officer Xiang Youzhi, the chief compliance officer Wu Leiming, the vice president Fang Weihao, the president’s assistant Wang Jun, the board secretary Zhou Qiang, and other executives from the management team, attended collectively to directly address key issues that the market is concerned about, such as operating performance and risk control.

When discussing the bank’s overall business performance in 2025, Ji Guangheng said plainly: “2025 is a very difficult year for Ping An Bank, and it is also a year in which we further lay a more solid foundation for future development. Affected by market interest rates running at low levels, ongoing efforts to pass benefits on to the real economy, and proactive adjustment of the business structure, the bank’s revenue and profit declined year on year. However, as our strategic reforms continue to deepen, some operating indicators are showing a favorable trend. In 2026, we will work to fully achieve the operating goal of returning to growth.”

The bank’s annual report previously disclosed by Ping An Bank shows that in 2025, the bank achieved operating income of 131.442 billion yuan for the full year, down 10.4% year on year; and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 42.633 billion yuan, down 4.2% year on year.

Ji Guangheng added: “From an industry perspective, we generally face challenges such as insufficient effective credit demand, mounting pressure in risk prevention, and narrowing profit margins. However, judging from the bank’s operating situation in the second half of 2025, especially in the fourth quarter, many reform results at Ping An Bank have already begun to show. Retail credit scale has stabilized after bottoming out since the second half of last year; credit cards have gradually stabilized; and the balances of mortgage and auto financing have achieved positive growth compared with the end of the previous year. Based on the performance of key indicators in the first two months of this year, the main operating indicators are already showing a trend of steady improvement and optimism.”

Regarding strategic reform, Ji Guangheng emphasized: “At the beginning of this year, at an internal work meeting of the whole bank, we proposed to maintain strategic focus. We can’t come up with new ideas every year. Instead, we must stay consistent, step by step, lay a solid foundation, and do a good job in operations.”

It is noteworthy that when the meeting concluded, Zhou Qiang introduced that the number of online viewers for this performance briefing session exceeded 210,000, setting a new high in the past two years.

A first sign of a turning point in retail business

As a core business segment of Ping An Bank, the progress of the transformation of its retail business has attracted widespread attention.

Ji Guangheng said: “The groundwork for retail business has basically been completed, and the first light is beginning to show.” Wang Jun, the president’s assistant, further added, directly addressing the transformation outcomes and current situation of the retail business: “Over the past two years, Ping An Bank has proactively adjusted its retail business structure, optimized risk policies, reshaped growth drivers. After this round of adjustment, the most difficult stage for retail business has already passed. Many key indicators have improved and are trending in a favorable direction, and a turning point for retail business has gradually emerged.”

Data show that as of the end of 2025, Ping An Bank’s number of retail customers increased by 1.9% compared with the end of the previous year. Retail customers’ assets under management (AUM) were approximately 4.238409 trillion yuan, up 1.1% from the end of the previous year. Meanwhile, at the end of 2025, Ping An Bank’s wealth customers increased by 2.4% compared with the end of the previous year. Among them, private banking customers grew by 9.1% compared with the end of the previous year, and the private banking customers’ AUM balance increased by 0.8% compared with the end of the previous year.

When discussing the quality of retail assets, Wang Jun said: “Based on an initial judgment, retail business revenue and profit will further improve and be enhanced. While achieving growth in returns and benefits, Ping An Bank will further strengthen the optimization of customer-group operations and structure.”

For the deployment of retail business in 2026, Wang Jun stated clearly: “In terms of customer operations, we will more actively integrate into Ping An Group’s ecosystem scenarios, helping customers meet core needs such as wealth management and healthy protection through precise customer-segmentation and differentiated product benefits. At the same time, we will further strengthen optimization of the Pocket Bank APP, emphasizing companion-style services for customers. In terms of business development, we will further rationally arrange the loan structure, release the capacity of medium-yield asset businesses, and expand the total amount of consumer loans. In large wealth management, we will adhere to high-quality AUM growth as the main line and continuously optimize our customers’ allocation capabilities. We will further strengthen team building and keep enhancing the team’s operational capabilities such as customer acquisition, customer activation, and customer conversion.”

Making up for strengths in corporate banking

During the challenging push to transform retail business, corporate business became an important support for Ping An Bank to maintain steady growth.

The annual report shows that as of the end of 2025, the balance of corporate deposits was 2.295255 trillion yuan, up 2.2% from the end of the previous year; the balance of corporate loans was 1.663546 trillion yuan, up 3.5% from the end of the previous year; and as of the end of 2025, the number of corporate customers was 0.966 million, up 13.2% from the end of the previous year.

Fang Weihao introduced: “In 2025, corporate business continued the previous trend and made up for the growth in retail. Overall, last year, corporate loans grew by 3.5%, and we reduced low-yield bills by 130 billion yuan. So, judging from the overall results, there has been some progress.”

Fang Weihao also frankly acknowledged his own shortcomings: “In corporate business, we are still relatively weak in terms of customers. Therefore, even as we have developed rapidly in these years, we still need to move carefully, as if walking on thin ice and as if facing a deep abyss. We must start with the end in mind, learn from advanced peer institutions, and at the same time take big strides to catch up.”

Xiang Youzhi added: “Over the past two years, we have been continuously accumulating energy in corporate business. Last year, the number of corporate customers grew by 13.2%, which will also provide a relatively good foundation for business growth this year.”

Ji Guangheng, meanwhile, emphasized: “In the process of making up for development in corporate business over the past few years, it has regained vitality. How do we keep the good momentum of corporate business going—especially to carry out the ‘customer groups + products’ approach. And it must be done without falling into internal competition driven by over-aggressive tactics; some further adjustments will still be needed.”

In response to the corporate real-estate risks that the market is paying attention to, Wu Leiming provided a detailed explanation: “In 2025, the real estate market is still in a deep adjustment period, with considerable pressure on companies’ funding. Some private enterprises with relatively large scale have shown risk exposure, and Ping An Bank has been affected to a certain extent as well. The bank’s real-estate non-performing loan ratio rose compared with 2024. However, compared with the industry average level, Ping An Bank is still at a relatively low level.”

A reporter from The Huaxia Times noted that as of the end of 2025, Ping An Bank’s non-performing loan ratio in the real estate industry was 2.22%, up 0.43 percentage points from the end of the previous year.

Wu Leiming further explained: “From the corporate side, in terms of the timing of risk emergence, risks were relatively concentrated in the first quarter. After the second quarter, whether in terms of overdue loans or newly added non-performing loans, both decreased. Newly added credit risk incidents have been effectively controlled, and the debt recovery work has also achieved notable results. It can be judged that the peak period of real-estate risk emergence has already passed.”

“In 2026, Ping An Bank will still face some pressure in the real estate field, but overall risks remain controllable,” Wu Leiming said.

Returning to growth

Ji Guangheng repeatedly emphasized the core goal for 2026 at the briefing. He said: “We have already seen the light at the end of the tunnel, and we are fully confident in returning to growth in 2026.”

Regarding how to achieve a return to growth, Ji Guangheng said: “In 2026, we will focus on the goal of ‘focusing on operations, implementing synergy, and returning to growth,’ and do our utmost to drive business performance to stabilize and rebound. We will not waver in our strategy of ‘making retail stronger, making corporate business more refined, and making interbank business more specialized.’ At the same time, we will seize opportunities in the new round of technological revolution and upgrade our technology-driven capabilities. We will strengthen the application of artificial intelligence technologies, increase resource investment, and deliver high-quality development of digital finance.”

He further added: “With three major levers—digital employees, precise marketing, and precise risk control—we will fully empower operational and management activities, striving to achieve cost reduction and efficiency gains, and performance-driven income growth. We will strengthen the capability building of the technology and data foundation, deepen master data management, and broaden the application of external data, evolving from human-machine collaboration to a mode of smart decision-making and automated execution. In addition, the bank will continuously deepen various aspects of operational and management work. It will focus on upgrading the treasury management system, improve organizational and team building, consolidate comprehensive risk management, and drive the improvement of the bank’s overall capabilities.”

From the perspective of risk and cost management, Xiang Youzhi added: “Over the past more than two years, Ping An Bank has continuously promoted proactive structural adjustments. These adjustments have basically been completed. In particular, high-risk asset businesses have undergone relatively sufficient compression and adjustment. Based on this foundation, in 2026 the loan business is expected to gradually follow the market’s basic rhythm. At the same time, we have also made multi-faceted adjustments in both liability structure and asset structure. In particular, the interest-bearing cost has been gradually declining since the beginning of last year, which will provide greater support for the restoration of net interest margins and revenue growth.”

Xiang Youzhi disclosed specific figures: “In 2025, Ping An Bank’s average interest rate on interest-bearing liabilities dropped to 1.67%, down sharply by 47 basis points year on year; the average interest rate on deposits collected dropped to 1.65%, down 42 basis points year on year. On the corporate side, we have also been continuously accumulating energy. Last year, the number of corporate customers grew by 13.2%, which will provide a relatively good foundation for business growth this year as well.”

Industry insiders analyzed for a reporter from The Huaxia Times that, overall, Ping An Bank needs to find a differentiated path amid industry-wide common challenges, and through business-structure optimization and the integration of group resources, gradually achieve a rebound in performance after building a solid base.

In addition, regarding the dividend issue that the market is widely concerned about, the cash dividend proposal disclosed by Ping An Bank shows that for 2025 the bank plans to distribute cash dividends of 5.96 yuan per 10 shares (including tax), totaling 11.566 billion yuan in cash dividends. Of this amount, the bank’s 2025 interim dividend was 2.36 yuan per 10 shares (including tax), totaling 4.580 billion yuan; the 2025 final dividend is planned to be 3.60 yuan per 10 shares (including tax), totaling 6.986 billion yuan.

When discussing shareholder returns, Ji Guangheng said: “Ping An Bank has always attached great importance to shareholders’ interests. This year, we still plan to maintain a reasonable dividend payout ratio, and strive to create more value for investors.”

In a research report, Wang Jian, an analyst at Guoxin Securities, said that, based on Ping An Bank’s 2025 annual report, the company’s overall performance basically meets expectations. He expects the company’s net profit attributable to shareholders from 2026 to 2028 to be 42.9 billion yuan, 43.1 billion yuan, and 43.4 billion yuan respectively, with year-on-year growth rates of 0.6%, 0.5%, and 0.6% respectively. He also maintains a “neutral” rating.

For the overall outlook for 2026, Ji Guangheng said: “2026 is a key year for Ping An Bank to return to growth. The whole bank will withstand the pains of transformation, achieve sustained expansion in retail volumes and a stabilized rebound, while actively expanding corporate coverage and steadily increasing returns. At the same time, we will further focus on key areas, accelerate credit deployment, stabilize deposit scale, and realize a positive loop of ‘volume, pricing, and risk,’ delivering a response that satisfies the market.”

Responsible editor: Feng Yingzi; Editor-in-Chief: Zhang Zhiwei

Massive information, precise analysis—available in the Sina Finance APP