In 2025, the six major state-owned banks will collectively earn a net profit of 1.42 trillion yuan.

By Staff Reporter Yang Jie Xiong Yue

On the evening of March 30, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China released their 2025 annual reports. With that, the performance “scorecards” for all six state-owned major industry banks have been unveiled.

In 2025, the key operating indicators of the six state-owned banks remained steady and well-balanced. Asset quality also improved steadily. According to a roundup by reporters from The Securities Daily, all six banks achieved year-on-year growth in both operating income and net profit attributable to shareholders, with net profit attributable to shareholders totaling RMB 1.42 trillion.

In terms of asset size, all six state-owned banks recorded steady growth. Among them, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) still ranked first in asset size: at the end of 2025, its assets increased 9.50% from the end of 2024 to RMB 53.48 trillion. The asset sizes of Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Bank both exceeded RMB 40 trillion, at RMB 48.78 trillion and RMB 45.63 trillion, respectively. Bank of China’s asset size was RMB 38.36 trillion. The asset sizes of Postal Savings Bank of China and Bank of Communications rose by 9.35% and 4.35%, respectively, from the end of 2024 to reach RMB 18.68 trillion and RMB 15.55 trillion, respectively.

For 2025 net profit attributable to shareholders, ICBC remained firmly in the top spot. The bank reported net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 3,685.62 billion, up 0.7% year-on-year. China Construction Bank followed closely, with net profit attributable to shareholders up 0.99% year-on-year to RMB 3,389.06 billion. Agricultural Bank of China reported net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 2,910.41 billion in 2025, the largest year-on-year increase at 3.20%. Bank of China reported net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 2,430.21 billion, up 2.18% from the end of 2024. Bank of Communications reported net profit attributable to shareholders up 2.18% year-on-year to RMB 956.22 billion. Postal Savings Bank of China reported net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 874.04 billion, up 1.07% year-on-year.

In terms of operating revenue, Bank of China had the largest year-on-year increase last year, up 4.48% to RMB 6,583.10 billion. ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, and Bank of Communications all saw operating revenue growth exceeding 2% (including 2%) in 2025, with year-on-year growth of 2.00%, 2.10%, and 2.02%, respectively, reaching RMB 8,382.70 billion, RMB 7,253.06 billion, and RMB 2,650.71 billion, respectively. In 2025, China Construction Bank and Postal Savings Bank of China achieved operating revenue of RMB 7,610.49 billion and RMB 3,557.28 billion, respectively, with growth of 1.88% and 1.99%.

If operating income growth determines how fast banks can “run,” then asset quality determines how far they can “go.” While the six state-owned banks saw steady growth in full-year 2025 performance, their pace of steady and prudent development was also even more stable, and overall asset quality remained broadly stable. For five banks, the non-performing loan ratio at the end of 2025 decreased compared with the end of 2024. Specifically, Postal Savings Bank of China had the lowest non-performing loan ratio at 0.95%. Bank of China’s non-performing loan ratio was 1.23%, down 0.02 percentage points from the end of 2024. ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of Communications all saw their non-performing loan ratios decline by 0.03 percentage points from the end of 2024, to 1.31%, 1.27%, 1.31%, and 1.28%, respectively.

Regarding capital adequacy ratios, as of the end of 2025, Bank of China and Postal Savings Bank of China increased compared with the end of 2024 to 18.85% and 14.52%, respectively, rising by 0.09 percentage points and 0.08 percentage points, respectively, from the end of 2024. China Construction Bank’s capital adequacy ratio was unchanged from the end of 2024 at 19.69%. The capital adequacy ratios of ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, and Bank of Communications all declined from the end of 2024, but remained at relatively high levels overall, with risks generally under control.

In addition, all six state-owned banks have proposed distributing cash dividends at the end of 2025, totaling RMB 222.766 billion. Of this, ICBC will distribute RMB 601.97 billion, China Construction Bank RMB 530.79 billion, Agricultural Bank of China RMB 454.98 billion, Bank of China RMB 376.67 billion, Bank of Communications RMB 148.80 billion, and Postal Savings Bank of China RMB 114.45 billion.

(Edited by Qian Xiaorui)

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