Live coverage of the earnings call | China Construction Bank's net profit last year increased by 1.04% year-on-year. President Zhang Yi explains: Revenue structure is becoming more diversified.

Every Daily reporter | Zhang Shulin    Every Daily editor | Chen Junjie

On the evening of March 27, Construction Bank disclosed its 2025 operating performance. In 2025, Construction Bank achieved operating income of RMB 740.87 billion, up 1.69% year over year, and net profit of RMB 339.79 billion, up 1.04% year over year.

At a results briefing held on the same day, Construction Bank President Zhang Yi introduced on-site that, judging from operating trends, operating income has continued to grow positively since the second quarter of last year, and the growth rate in profits has improved quarter by quarter.

In 2025, Construction Bank’s non-interest income contribution ratio reached 22.69%, up 3.65 percentage points year over year. Zhang Yi said that the revenue structure is becoming more diversified. He also mentioned that the contributions from overseas institutions and subsidiaries have been growing steadily.

Construction Bank results briefing site    Every Daily reporter Zhang Shulin photo

The decline in net interest income narrowed quarter by quarter

Regarding its 2025 operations, Zhang Yi pointed out that, by coordinating volume, pricing, and other factors, the bank would hold steady its basic position in net interest income, and the decline would narrow quarter by quarter.

On the volume side, the average balance growth rate of interest-earning assets was 9.38%, accelerating by 1.38 percentage points from the previous year. Zhang Yi analyzed that this was mainly driven by faster growth in core assets, with the average balance share of loans and bond investments reaching 89.13%, up 0.66 percentage points year over year.

On the price side, Zhang Yi said that the decline in NIM (net interest margin) narrowed by 2 basis points compared with the previous year. The deposit interest expense rate was 1.32%, down 33 basis points year over year.

On the structure side, the bank increased the deployment of high-quality medium- and long-term assets. For domestic corporate non-discount loans, the share of medium- and long-term loans of one year or more rose by 0.82 percentage points; it continued to consolidate the traditional advantages of retail credit, with personal consumption loans and personal business loans maintaining double-digit growth for three consecutive years; and it stepped up efforts to expand settlement-type low-cost funds, with the share of domestic demand deposits at 42.43%, maintaining a level of advantage over peers.

Non-interest income contributions continued to improve. Zhang Yi said that net fee and commission income grew 5.13% year over year. On the one hand, it consolidated traditional income such as payments and settlement; on the other, it accelerated the cultivation of “Rongzhi” service capability, and income in areas such as wealth management and asset management maintained steady growth. Among them, the growth rates of products such as distribution of funds and wealth management products were faster: the growth rate of distributed funds exceeded 25%, and the growth rate of wealth management products exceeded 90%. In addition, by strengthening market forecasting and optimizing investment strategies, it enhanced trading capabilities, with the growth rate of returns related to equity investments exceeding 40%.

Zhang Yi also mentioned that the bank comprehensively strengthened cost management, and expense control achieved tangible results. The cost-to-income ratio was 29.44%, down 14 basis points year over year.

The decline in NIM narrowed at the margin

In 2025, Construction Bank achieved a net interest margin of 1.34%. Sheng Liurong, Construction Bank’s Chief Financial Officer, analyzed that the NIM decline narrowed at the margin in 2025 and can be attributed to three aspects.

First, the repricing of existing loans was gradually completed, easing pressure on the decline in loan yield.

Second, certain time deposits with relatively high interest expense rates matured in a concentrated way, leading to a sharp decline in the interest expense rate of general deposits. In addition, last year’s interest expense rate of interbank deposits also declined rapidly. With the cost of funds on the liabilities side declining, it to a certain extent mitigated the impact of the decline in loan yields on NIM.

Third, through effective asset-liability management, structural optimization was achieved, thereby slowing the decline in yields. Through system optimization such as cash management and payroll disbursement, efforts were made to obtain low-cost settlement funds, custody funds, and so on.

In terms of asset-liability management, from the asset side, the bank further increased the proportion of financial investment assets with relatively higher yields, mainly reflected in bond investments, and interest-earning assets maintained a good growth rate. From the structural perspective, last year’s financial investment assets with relatively higher yields saw their share of interest-earning assets’ balance increase.

From the liabilities side, through effective management of customer-tiered and customer-group pricing, the bank reduced some deposits with relatively higher interest expense rates, while also expanding some interbank deposits with relatively lower interest expense rates.

For the trend of NIM in 2026, Sheng Liurong analyzed that from a macro perspective, the 2025 fourth-quarter Monetary Policy Implementation Report clearly pointed out to further improve the transmission mechanism of market-based interest rates, strengthen the implementation and supervision of interest rate policies, and reduce banks’ funding costs. From the perspective of macro policy, while the central bank is paying attention to improving the market-based interest rate mechanism, it is also paying attention to the reasonable control of banks’ funding costs. The macro policy orientation is clear.

From a micro perspective, it will continue to strengthen effective and proactive liability management, optimize the asset-liability structure, and further narrow the decline in NIM.

Improve efficiency through asset-liability management and deeper focus on customers

Looking ahead to 2026 operations, Zhang Yi proposed that first, the bank should build distinctive advantages and seek efficiency through deeper focus on asset-liability management and customers. On the asset side, it should promote effective qualitative improvement and reasonable growth in volume. It needs to increase the intensity of structural adjustments. Based on consolidating traditional advantages, it should do more in depth on the “Five Major Articles,” build differentiated and distinctive advantages, and strive to become a leading bank in technology and finance. It should closely follow the policy orientation to boost consumption, and optimize the supply of retail credit products and services. It should serve high-level opening up to the outside world and enhance international competitiveness. It should cultivate the service capability of county-level finance to better serve the integrated development of urban and rural areas. It should deepen coordinated integration and solidly advance four “integrations,” namely business-investment-banking integration, public-private integration, domestic-and-foreign currency integration, and group integration, along with aligned efforts from the front, middle, and back offices, between headquarters and branches, between parent and subsidiary, and among domestic and overseas institutions, to empower business development through improvements in operating efficiency.

On the liabilities side, it should enhance the capability to manage liabilities by major categories, secure growth in core deposits, and vigorously expand funds in categories such as payments and settlement, trading, and wealth management, effectively lowering funding costs.

On the customer side, it should deepen tiered and categorized customer operations, further upgrade service model capabilities, and provide customers with better integrated financial service solution plans.

Second, it should deepen efforts to reduce costs, improve quality, and enhance efficiency, and seek benefits through refined management. Strengthen refined pricing management, suppress low-yield assets, stabilize net interest margin in the near term, and enhance the growth momentum of non-interest income. Strengthen integrated marketing professional services and improve the quality of middle-business development. Strengthen the stability management of other non-interest income, and continue to advance intensive operations. While ensuring support for key investments, it should explore additional opportunities for refined management of operating costs, reduce unnecessary expenses, and improve the efficiency of capital investment and output.

Third, it should strengthen forward-looking, proactive risk control, and seek value through risk management. Strengthen AI empowerment, improve a comprehensive, proactive, intelligent, and agile risk control system, respond more forward-looking and proactively to changes in risk, strengthen coordinated risk control among the three lines of defense, increase risk control efforts in key areas, improve the quality and effectiveness of disposing of non-performing assets, and lay a solid foundation for steady and sound operations.

Cover image source: Zhang Jian