Saving 10,000 yuan for one year earns only a few cups of milk tea in interest: A comparison of the latest interest rates from 27 banks

Source: Consumer Reports Author: Cheng Hong

This article helps you clearly understand the latest deposit interest rates across major banks in 2026.

Since March, dozens of city commercial banks, rural commercial banks, and township banks—including Xinjiang Bank, Shanghai Huarui Bank, Heilongjiang Friendship Rural Commercial Bank, and Yunnan Yuanjiang Beiyin Township Bank—have announced in close succession that they are lowering their time deposit interest rates.

In 2026, which bank will be more worthwhile for depositing money? What is the highest interest rate it can reach? Why do some banks have an interest-rate “inversion” phenomenon? What is the adjustment cadence for deposit interest rates? In this regard, Consumer Reports has compiled and compared the deposit interest rates of 27 banks, covering state-owned large banks, joint-stock banks, city commercial banks, rural commercial banks, and internet banks.

The results show that among the 27 banks, the highest interest rate for time deposits is 1.85%. Among them, in state-owned large banks, if you deposit 10,000 yuan for one year, the interest earned is less than 100 yuan.

01．

All 27 banks have interest rates that are fully in the “1” range

Personal deposits can be divided into demand deposits and time deposits, and time deposits most commonly take the form of fixed-term deposits with principal and interest both received at maturity.

According to the latest deposit interest rates of the 27 banks that the reporter compiled, the time deposit interest rates of all 27 banks are currently below 2.0%, with the highest at only 1.85%.

The latest deposit interest rates of the 27 banks are as follows:

According to a statistical compilation by a Consumer Reports reporter, in terms of bank category, from highest to lowest, the deposit interest rates rank as: city commercial banks, rural commercial banks ＞ joint-stock banks ＞ state-owned large banks. Even though smaller banks such as city commercial banks and rural commercial banks have lowered deposit interest rates in this round of intensive adjustments, their rates are still higher than those of state-owned large banks.

Taking one-year interest as an example, the interest rates for time deposits with fixed terms of principal and interest both received at maturity are all below 1.5% among the 27 banks. Among them, the one-year deposit interest rates of the five state-owned large banks—Industrial and Commercial Bank, Agricultural Bank, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Bank of Communications?—are 0.95%, meaning that depositing 10,000 yuan for one year yields 95 yuan. In this compilation, the bank with the highest one-year rate is Sichuan Bank, at 1.40%, meaning that depositing 10,000 yuan for one year yields 140 yuan.

Among the 27 banks in this compilation, the reporter found that the highest deposit interest rate is 1.85%, which is Sichuan Bank’s five-year fixed-term time deposit interest rate. Using this rate, if you deposit 10,000 yuan for five years, the interest is 10,000 × 5 (years) × 1.85% = 925 yuan.

It should be noted that higher deposit interest rates come with certain thresholds. A Consumer Reports reporter recently called Sichuan Bank’s customer service hotline. A staff member said that the current deposit interest rates do match the posted rates, but you need to open an account at an offline branch in your locality. The account-opening requirements are strict and include proof of social insurance and housing fund documents, etc. They advise that before you deposit across cities or across banks, you should consult the local branch first.

02．

The interest rates for large-denomination certificates of deposit are higher, and do not exceed 2%

Besides deposit products such as fixed-term deposits with principal and interest both received at maturity, savers can also choose deposit products like zero-friction fixed deposits, fixed deposits with principal paid early, and deposits with withdrawal of principal and interest periodically. However, their interest rates are lower. A Consumer Reports reporter’s review found that many banks’ interest rates for these types of deposit products are below 1.0%.

The interest rates of the 27 banks for zero-friction fixed deposits, fixed deposits with principal paid early, and deposits with withdrawal of principal and interest periodically are as follows:

Worth noting is that in addition to the deposit products mentioned above, large-denomination certificates of deposit are also favored by some savers with larger amounts of funds.

“Personal large-denomination certificates of deposit” are book-entry large-denomination deposit instruments denominated in RMB that banks issue to individual clients. They are deposit products with standardized maturity periods, minimum investment amount requirements, and market-based pricing. Large-denomination certificates of deposit generally have a minimum requirement of 200,000 yuan to start, and some products even require 1,000,000 yuan to start.

Large-denomination certificate of deposit interest rates are often higher than time-deposit interest rates of the same maturity. For example, at China Merchants Bank, the fixed-term time deposit interest rates with principal and interest both received at maturity for 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years are 0.65%, 0.85%, 0.95%, and 1.05%, respectively. Meanwhile, large-denomination certificate of deposit interest rates of the same maturities can be as high as 1.10%, 1.30%, 1.40%, and 1.40%.

Sichuan Bank staff also told a Consumer Reports reporter that the interest rate on large-denomination certificates of deposit is higher than that of time deposits, and the maximum can be as high as 1.90% for 3-year and 5-year products, but it has a requirement of 200,000 yuan to start.

▲ Large-denomination certificates of deposit from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Merchants Bank, from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China App and China Merchants Bank App

03．

State-owned large banks have not adjusted their rates for 10 months

In fact, since 2023, each round of deposit interest rate cuts has been initiated first by state-owned large banks. Joint-stock banks, city commercial banks, and rural commercial banks then follow gradually afterward. In other words, deposit interest rate adjustments generally follow the convention of “state-owned large banks act first, and smaller banks follow.”

However, in this round of rate adjustments in 2026, smaller banks such as city commercial banks, rural commercial banks, and township banks are the main force, while state-owned large banks have already gone 10 months without adjusting their deposit interest rates.

The last time the six major banks (Industrial, Agricultural, Industrial? Construction, Communication, and Postal Savings) adjusted their interest rates was on May 20, 2025. On the same day, they collectively lowered rates. The one-year fixed deposit rate first fell below 1% to 0.95% or 0.98%, while the three-year and five-year rates were lowered to 1.25% and 1.30%, respectively. The current interest rate levels remain at the state after the adjustments made in the second half of last year.

The reporter’s review shows that, for example, at China Industrial and Commercial Bank, besides adjusting rates only once in 2025, there were two rounds of interest rate adjustments in 2024, while in 2023 there were three adjustments in total.

▲ Table of RMB deposit interest rates at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, from the official website of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

Currently, state-owned large banks have not adjusted deposit interest rates for 10 months. So, has the adjustment pace slowed down, and is there little downward room left?

“Six major banks have not adjusted deposit interest rates for 10 months, affected by multiple factors.” Jiang Han, a senior research fellow at PanGu Think Tank, told Consumer Reports in an interview that from the perspective of the macroeconomic environment, the economy is currently in a recovery stage. The central bank needs to maintain a relatively stable interest-rate environment to support steady economic development.

He also mentioned that on the part of banks, although there may be room to lower deposit interest rates, they also need to consider market competition and customer retention. If deposit rates are lowered frequently, it may lead to customers’ funds flowing out, affecting the bank’s sources of funds. At the same time, banks are also improving their profitability by optimizing asset-liability structures and expanding into other business areas, rather than relying solely on lowering deposit interest rates. Therefore, the adjustment pace has slowed.

04．

For some banks, the five-year rate is lower than the three-year rate

In this round of interest rate adjustments by smaller banks, the most attention-grabbing issue in the market is the presence of an interest-rate inversion phenomenon.

Typically, the longer the deposit term, the higher the interest rate. The order of deposit interest rates from high to low is: five-year ＞ three-year ＞ two-year ＞ one-year ＞ six-month ＞ three-month.

But some banks have interest-rate inversion. For example, at Wuxi Rural Commercial Bank, the three-year rate is 1.45%, while the five-year rate is 1.40%. In addition, Hubei Three Gorges Rural Commercial Bank and Heilongjiang Friendship Rural Commercial Bank also have the situation where the five-year rate is lower than the three-year rate.

▲ Deposit interest rate table of Wuxi Rural Commercial Bank, from the official website of Wuxi Rural Commercial Bank

Jiang Han believes that for some banks, the inversion where the five-year rate is not as high as the three-year rate is mainly due to considerations of the bank’s funding costs and returns. From the perspective of funding costs, to attract long-term deposits, banks need to pay higher interest costs. Under the current market environment, the returns from long-term loans are relatively unstable. To reduce funding costs, banks will appropriately lower long-term deposit interest rates.

He said that from the perspective of returns, banks face uncertainty regarding future interest-rate trends. If interest rates change in the future, the high cost of long-term deposits would put pressure on banks. Therefore, by adjusting the deposit term structure so that the five-year rate is lower than the three-year rate, banks can balance funding costs and returns.

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责任编辑：张恒星