Perspective on Annual Reports | Bank deposit interest rates are falling, agency sales income is rising—are deposits "moving"?

Ask AI · Deposit interest rates are falling, why can banks maintain stable funds?

In recent years, as deposit interest rates have been continuously sliding downward, the topic of bank deposits moving has never faded.

Market forecasts suggest that many bank deposits will mature this year. Against the backdrop of no longer having an interest rate advantage, how banks prevent a “collective outflow” of deposits has become one of the hot topics at this year’s earnings release conferences.

The good news is that, based on data from listed banks’ performance reports, there has so far been no large-scale “migration” of deposits. However, banks remain cautious, with their own calculations: the decline in deposit interest rates has eased the pressure on net interest margins, and income from non-interest sources such as agency fees and wealth management fees has seen significant increases. Those individual deposits that have “left” due to low interest rates tend to circulate back into the banking system through non-bank financial institutions (such as fund companies and wealth management subsidiaries) via interbank deposits.

“Deposits may be lost, but funds will not be lost.” From the perspective of bank executives, the core of winning the “stability deposit battle” this year is “grasping customers,” with wealth management and other value-added services being the most promising “trump cards” in their hands.

Deposit scale growth has slowed but has not yet experienced large-scale “migration”

Since the end of last year, concerns about banks’ “deposit migration” have been ongoing. But according to the 2025 financial reports of listed banks, there has not been a large-scale “migration” of deposits so far, and many banks still saw growth in deposit scale last year.

According to incomplete statistics by Beike Finance, 22 A-share listed banks that have disclosed their 2025 annual reports all maintained positive year-on-year growth in total deposits, with an average growth rate of 7.31%.

Specifically, the total deposits of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Construction Bank all exceeded 30 trillion yuan. Chongqing Bank, Qingdao Bank, Zhengzhou Bank, Wuxi Rural Commercial Bank, and Huaxia Bank all saw deposit growth rates above 10%. However, banks like China Everbright Bank, Ping An Bank, and Minsheng Bank experienced relatively modest deposit growth, all below 2%.

It is worth noting that market concerns about “deposit migration” mainly focus on individual fixed-term deposits. However, from the banks’ performance reports, last year’s growth rate of individual deposits was 9.66%, and the growth rate of individual fixed-term deposits was as high as 10.97%. This indicates that the trend of deposit termization has not changed.

Nevertheless, the growth rates of individual deposits and fixed-term deposits in many banks have indeed slowed. According to incomplete statistics by Beike Finance, among the 22 listed banks, 17 saw their individual deposit growth in 2024 fall short of 2025, and 12 banks’ fixed-term deposit growth was below that of 2024.

Industry insiders point out that, so far in 2025, there has been no large-scale maturing of bank deposits, mainly because a large volume of fixed-term deposits are only maturing this year. The slowdown in the growth of individual fixed-term deposits is mainly due to banks actively adjusting and reducing their liability costs.

Deposits can decrease but funds cannot — banks launch a “fund protection battle”

According to market estimates, a large number of fixed-term deposits will mature this year. At many banks’ earnings conferences, senior executives stated that since the second half of last year, the scale of maturing deposits has increased compared to previous years, but remains within a normal range.

“Starting from the second half of 2025, the maturing fixed-term deposits at Bank of China have increased,” said Yang Jun, Vice President of Bank of China, adding that the bank is carefully managing the stability and retention of these maturing deposits.

Zhou Wanfeng, Vice President of Bank of Communications, also revealed that this year’s maturing fixed-term deposits at the bank have significantly increased compared to last year, with a large proportion concentrated in the first quarter.

For banks, it is not advisable to retain these deposits solely through similarly high-interest fixed-term products. Over the past few years, the scale of fixed-term deposits with relatively high interest rates has been large, and the deposit interest payout rate has been a key factor pressuring banks’ net interest margins in recent years. Therefore, lowering deposit interest rates is inevitable. How can banks retain these funds?

“‘Deposit migration’ refers to the loss of fixed-term deposits maturing that year,” said Peng Jiawen, Vice President of China Merchants Bank. From the customer’s perspective, if deposits flow into wealth management and public funds, CMB hopes to keep these funds within its own system through services. Although these may not be on the balance sheet, they are customer funds of CMB. That is, the bank hopes to rely on interbank business and subsidiaries to ultimately achieve the effect of “deposits may be lost, but funds and customers will not.”

Wang Jun, Assistant President of Ping An Bank, also said that under the background of declining deposit interest rates, along with changes in the capital market and improved market investment expectations, he has observed changes in the risk appetite of bank retail customers. Under the overall prudent tone, the proportion of relatively aggressive equity products has increased significantly. Meanwhile, the demand for diversified product portfolios has also become more vigorous.

“From the results, some deposits are not actually lost but are transformed into more efficient asset structures within the bank’s asset allocation system,” Wang Jun said. Facing the changes in deposits in 2026, Ping An Bank will focus on long-term deposit maturities, not simply renewing at high prices, but integrating wealth management products into the asset allocation services through online and offline channels to meet customer needs. The bank will also continue to enhance high-quality deposit scale through scenario construction.

Fee and commission income turn positive; wealth management is expected to be a key growth area

As some fixed-term deposits mature, funds are entering the investment market.

Since the second half of last year, the wealth management business of banks has been improving, driving growth in fee and commission income.

According to the performance reports of various banks, among the 22 banks that have disclosed their 2025 annual reports, 13 saw year-on-year growth in fee and commission income, up from only 8 in mid-2024. Moreover, the year-end growth rate was higher than that at mid-year.

Many banks pointed out in their reports that the growth in fee and commission income last year mainly stemmed from the expansion of wealth management business.

Construction Bank stated that last year, its asset management business income was 300k yuan, a year-on-year increase of 78.78%, mainly due to growth in wealth management products and fund management fees. Agency business fee income was 15.34B yuan, up 6.19% year-on-year, mainly from increased income from fund sales and bond underwriting. Agricultural Bank also noted that its agency business grew by 87.8% last year, mainly due to the deepening of its wealth management transformation, with increased income from wealth management and fund sales.

The scale of wealth management products of bank wealth management subsidiaries also increased. Data shows that Huaxia Wealth Management’s scale grew by 45.82% year-on-year last year, and several other wealth management companies such as China Post Wealth Management, Minsheng Wealth Management, and Everbright Wealth Management all saw growth rates exceeding 20%. Additionally, the number of banks with trillion-level wealth management scales has expanded to 13, with China Merchants Bank’s wealth management scale exceeding 2.6 trillion yuan, maintaining the industry’s top position.

The positive trend in wealth management data has led bank executives to have high expectations for this business. Many bank leaders at the earnings conferences said they aim to turn deposit advantages into wealth management advantages.

“Wealth management has great potential and prospects for commercial banks,” said Lin Li, Vice President of Agricultural Bank of China, at the conference, noting that large-scale wealth management has become a new growth pole for the industry.

Sheng Liurong, Chief Financial Officer of China Construction Bank, also said that as residents’ awareness of investment and financial management continues to strengthen, wealth management, asset management, and custodian services connecting both ends still have significant growth potential.

Beijing News Beike Finance Reporter: Jiang Fan | Editor: Chen Li | Proofreader: Mu Xiangtang