2025 Bank Annual Report Observation Room | The seating order of 9 listed joint-stock banks is reshuffling! China Merchants Bank far ahead, Industrial Bank and CITIC compete for "second place," with a clear division between the front and back.

Ask AI · The differentiation at the head and tail of joint-stock banks is intensifying; how will the future pattern evolve?

As the annual reports of the banking industry for 2025 are gradually disclosed, the performance reports of all nine A-share listed joint-stock banks have been unveiled. Under the multiple tests of narrowing interest margins, intensified homogeneous competition, and the wave of AI technology, these nine banks, as the most dynamic and competitive backbone of the banking sector, are charting very different development paths.

Upon closer inspection, some are maintaining their leading positions and continuing to lead in wealth management; some are alternating between offense and defense in fierce competition for industry rankings; some are “carving out the bone to cure the poison” amid transformation pains, seeking breakthroughs; others are actively deploying in the wave of technology to seize future opportunities.

The 2025 annual “report card” is not only about revenue and profit performance but also a comprehensive competition involving strategic resilience, business restructuring, and AI empowerment.

Leading the pack and reshuffling rankings

Currently, China has 12 nationwide joint-stock banks, of which 9 have successfully listed on the A-share market, becoming the top players in the joint-stock bank camp. As the 2025 annual reports are released one after another, the two core performance indicators—revenue and net profit attributable to the parent—have become the main benchmarks for measuring each bank’s strength, clearly revealing the current competitive landscape across different tiers.

Data shows that in 2025, China Merchants Bank, with revenue of 337.53B yuan and net profit attributable to the parent of 150.18B yuan, once again secures the top spot among joint-stock banks. Its scale far surpasses that of the six large state-owned banks, including Bank of Communications, and also exceeds the net profit attributable to the parent of Postal Savings Bank. Looking back over ten years, this “retail king” has always held the top position, with revenue rising from 209.03B yuan in 2016 to 337.53B yuan now, a ten-year increase of 61.48%; net profit attributable to the parent soared from 62.08B yuan to 150.18B yuan, an increase of 141.91%.

Industrial Bank and China CITIC Bank are competing around the “200B revenue track.” In 2020, Industrial Bank first crossed the 200B yuan threshold, surpassing Shanghai Pudong Development Bank to become the “second place”; in 2021, China CITIC Bank followed closely, and the battle for ranking between the two began. In 2024, CITIC Bank temporarily overtook Industrial Bank in revenue, gaining the advantage; but in 2025, Industrial Bank, with revenue of 212.74B yuan, slightly surpassed CITIC Bank, returning to the “second place.” However, in terms of net profit attributable to the parent, the pattern remains relatively stable, with Industrial Bank and CITIC Bank maintaining the second and third positions over the past five years, with 77.47B yuan and 70.62B yuan respectively in 2025.

Ten years ago, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank ranked second in revenue and third in net profit among the nine joint-stock banks. After years of performance fluctuations, it has now returned to the growth track, achieving revenue of 173.96B yuan and net profit of 50.02B yuan in 2025, with year-on-year growth of 1.88% and 10.52%, maintaining the fourth position among joint-stock banks.

In stark contrast to the clear pattern at the top, the mid-tier ranks from fifth to seventh are embroiled in fierce battles, with significant divergence in revenue and net profit rankings. In terms of revenue, China Minsheng Bank broke through against the trend with a 4.82% YoY increase, rising to fifth place; while Ping An Bank, which had held the fifth position for four consecutive years, fell to sixth due to a 10.4% decline in revenue in 2025; China Everbright Bank remained stable, with revenue of 126.31B yuan for two consecutive years, ranking seventh. However, in net profit rankings, the pattern reversed: Ping An Bank with 42.63B yuan ranked fifth, Everbright Bank with 38.83B yuan sixth, and China Minsheng Bank with 30.56B yuan seventh. Huaxia Bank and Zheshang Bank have maintained stable rankings over the past decade, finishing 2025 in eighth and ninth place respectively.

In terms of asset scale, China Merchants Bank’s “leader” advantage has become increasingly evident, crossing the 10 trillion, 11 trillion, 12 trillion, and 13 trillion yuan thresholds in four consecutive years. By the end of 2025, total assets reached 13.07 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.56%. Meanwhile, Industrial Bank’s assets grew from 10.51 trillion yuan to 11.10 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.58%. Previously, CITIC Bank and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, which had announced positive results in performance reports, successfully joined the “10 trillion club” in 2025. As a result, the number of Chinese banking institutions with assets over 10 trillion yuan has expanded to 10, further strengthening the asset strength of joint-stock banks.

Regarding the performance of the nine A-share listed joint-stock banks, Wang Hongying, president of the China (Hong Kong) Financial Derivatives Investment Research Institute, stated that joint-stock banks are showing a clear trend of differentiated competition. This phenomenon indicates that the strategic differentiation among joint-stock banks has begun to widen. While mid-tier joint-stock banks operate relatively stably, gaps between the top and bottom banks still exist. Overall, the asset quality of joint-stock banks remains relatively stable, and interest margins are also stabilizing. Some mid-tier and lower-ranked banks are actively adjusting their business strategies, gradually moving away from bad loan issues caused by real estate and general manufacturing loans, shifting toward high-quality economic services, increasing corporate loans to high-end manufacturing, green industries, and technology sectors. At the same time, these banks are leveraging digital intelligence to further strengthen retail business growth.

“Core Competencies” Differentiation

If revenue and net profit attributable to the parent are the “hard power” of banks, then business layout is the fundamental “background” supporting this strength. Looking at the 2025 financial reports, the nine joint-stock banks, based on their own advantages, have focused on corporate and retail business deployment, forging differentiated development paths and identifying their profit growth points.

China Merchants Bank continues to uphold its core positioning as the “retail king.” Over twenty years ago, former President Ma Weihua’s statement that “if you don’t focus on wholesale business now, you won’t have food to eat; if you don’t focus on retail business in the future, you won’t have food to eat” set the tone for the bank’s long-term development. In 2025, the bank’s retail financial business revenue reached 100k yuan, accounting for 61.89% of total revenue, with profit contribution consistently above 50%.

What is even more enviable is the high “value” retail customer base of China Merchants Bank. By the end of 2025, the bank managed retail customer total assets (AUM) exceeding 17 trillion yuan, with over 2 trillion yuan added in one year, and a five-year compound growth rate of over 13%. Among them, “Golden Sunflower” customers with monthly assets of 500k yuan or more reached 5.9315 million, a year-on-year increase of 13.29%; private banking clients with assets of over 110k approached 200k, with a growth rate of 17.87%.

Unlike China Merchants Bank’s retail focus, Industrial Bank regards corporate business as a solid profit foundation, leveraging the dual advantages of “commercial + investment banking” and “regional + industry.” By the end of 2025, the bank’s corporate loans (excluding bill discounting) balance was about 3.74 trillion yuan, an 8.66% increase from the previous year, far exceeding the bank’s overall loan growth rate. Loans to manufacturing, green finance, and technology finance grew by more than 1x, 2x, and 3x respectively.

However, on the retail side, the bank shows a unique pattern of “deposits surging, loans shrinking.” Retail deposits reached 1.80 trillion yuan, a 14.81% YoY increase, ranking second among joint-stock banks; but retail loans decreased by 3.41% YoY, indicating retail business remains a shortcoming to be strengthened. As Chairman Lü Jiajin stated in the annual report, the goal is to “unswervingly build on industry strengths, consolidate corporate finance, and strengthen retail weaknesses.”

CITIC Bank and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank also continue to focus on the corporate side. In 2025, CITIC Bank’s group corporate banking revenue accounted for 46.5%, with pre-tax profit at 64.6%; retail banking revenue was 37.3%, with pre-tax profit only 6.3%, highlighting the increasing dominance of corporate business. Data shows that the bank’s corporate loans (excluding bill discounting) grew by 13.24% YoY, making it the fastest-growing among joint-stock banks in corporate loans, with loans to manufacturing, leasing, business services, water conservancy, environmental, and public facilities management industries ranking in the top three.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank’s corporate business also serves as a growth engine. In 2025, the bank’s net operating income from corporate business reached 120k yuan, with its “five major tracks”—tech finance, supply chain finance, inclusive finance, cross-border finance, and treasury finance—becoming main growth poles for corporate loans. The bank focused on industries supported by national policies and with clear industrial orientation, mainly investing in strategic emerging industries, infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing. During the reporting period, new loans in these sectors accounted for over 70% of the overall increase in corporate loans.

Ping An Bank, in a period of transformation, regards corporate business as a breakthrough. In 2025, the revenue share of retail and corporate banking was roughly equal, but net profit from retail finance was only 6.3%, while corporate net profit accounted for 71.6%. Due to the reduction of high-risk consumer loans and credit card bad debts, retail provisions remained high, giving the stage for corporate business to “fill the gap,” providing room for retail recovery. Wang Jun, assistant to the bank president, said, “We expect retail revenue and profit to further improve and enhance, and while increasing benefits, we will further strengthen customer management and structural optimization.”

Once called the “Micro and Small Business King,” Minsheng Bank’s corporate business revenue reached 130k yuan in 2025, accounting for 48.04% of total revenue, with profit contribution as high as 88.68%. Everbright Bank’s business structure is relatively balanced, with both corporate and retail financial revenue close to 40%. Huaxia Bank and Zheshang Bank continue regional deepening strategies, focusing on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Zhejiang respectively, with corporate business as the absolute mainstay, forming regional competitive advantages.

Wang Hongying said that under the policy of supporting high-quality real economy development, the nine joint-stock banks are all increasing their corporate credit issuance to support high-quality economic growth. “This indicates that even if there were performance gaps last year, these banks have realized that supporting high-quality economic development through related loans is the future direction of bank credit business. The optimization of corporate business structure is being promoted under the support of national strategic emerging industries and high-quality credit issuance. For example, more banks are transforming from traditional commercial banks to investment banks by enhancing comprehensive financial services, establishing industrial investment companies, and using diversified financing modes to promote high-quality economic development. Therefore, the trend of optimizing industrial loan structures is very clear.”

Wang further pointed out that commercial banks are also strengthening comprehensive skills training for corporate banking staff, improving their ability to serve as corporate financing consultants at different stages of the enterprise lifecycle, providing various financial resources. Many banks are also recruiting graduates with backgrounds in high-tech industries, cultivating them in tech and green sectors, leveraging their expertise and bank resources to bridge enterprises and financial support, enhancing service capabilities. Additionally, banks are using AI to optimize financing structures and resource allocation for high-quality real economy sectors, making resources more effectively serve China’s high-quality development.

Who is adjusting course

In the context of continuously narrowing interest margins and intensified homogeneous competition, the old path of scale expansion is no longer sustainable. Transitioning from scale-driven growth to value-focused deep cultivation has become a necessary challenge for all banks. In 2025, their strategic choices show clear differences: some are accelerating “evolution” on their established course, moving from retail to higher-level wealth management platforms; some are actively “carving out the bone to cure the poison,” undergoing phased reforms to reshape development paths; others are “returning from the wrong way,” trying to recover their original genes.

As the leader among joint-stock banks, China Merchants Bank, after consolidating its position as the “retail king,” is not stopping at scale expansion but is transforming toward higher-level wealth management. Chairman Miao Jianmin explicitly proposed a “retail restart, corporate surpassing” strategic framework at the performance meeting, focusing on three directions: improving asset quality, consolidating liabilities, and elevating wealth management, with wealth management designated as the core breakthrough for future retail business. President Wang Liang also admitted, “By 2025, the bank’s wealth management, especially retail wealth management, will grow rapidly, compensating for other revenue gaps.”

Unlike China Merchants Bank’s “steady evolution,” Ping An Bank’s strategic reshaping is full of transformation pains. Once known as the “retail dark horse,” the bank’s contribution of retail financial business to overall net profit has declined, with rising personal loan non-performing assets and customer loss issues erupting. The growth mode of extensive expansion is no longer sustainable. In 2023, after Ji Guangheng took over as president, the bank launched a comprehensive strategic reform, focusing on “clearing high-risk existing assets, optimizing business structure, and upgrading refined management,” actively abandoning the old path of scale expansion.

2025 is a crucial year for Ping An Bank’s reform and transformation to take effect. At the performance meeting, Ji Guangheng repeatedly used “very difficult” to describe the pains of transformation. He said, “2025 is a very difficult year for Ping An Bank, but also a year to lay a more solid foundation for future development.” This “difficulty” is reflected in the performance: the bank’s total revenue decreased by 10.4% YoY, and net profit decreased by 4.2%.

Behind the data, the improvement of business structure is more critical: the bank continues to clean up high-risk consumer loans and credit card bad assets, with non-performing loan ratios decreasing compared to the previous year, and asset quality steadily improving. At the same time, it adheres to the strategy of “strengthening retail, refining corporate, and specializing in interbank,” taking corporate business as a breakthrough, promoting coordinated development of retail and corporate, gradually reducing dependence on a single business. Ji Guangheng revealed, “Since the second half of 2023, over 70% of the business adjustments have been completed. We are now in the deep water zone. The hardest times are over, reforms are showing results, and we are confident in returning to growth this year.”

If Ping An Bank’s reshaping is an active breakthrough, then Shanghai Pudong Development Bank’s strategic adjustment is a “return voyage.” Looking back to 2017, a fraud case at the Chengdu branch revealed internal control loopholes behind its rapid development as the “corporate king.” Hundreds of millions in bad debts not only dragged down performance but also caused the bank’s focus to waver. Since then, Pudong Development Bank increased investment in retail business, trying to replicate peers’ success, but due to lack of core advantages, retail expansion did not meet expectations, weakening its core corporate strength. From 2021 to 2023, revenue and profit declined for three consecutive years.

In 2024, with a new management team in place, the bank clarified its “digital and intelligent” strategic transformation, establishing five major tracks as the core focus of corporate business. The “return voyage” strategy has begun to show results: in 2025, the bank’s revenue and net profit both increased; assets exceeded 10 trillion yuan for the first time; non-performing loan ratio fell to 1.26%, the lowest in nearly 11 years. The once “corporate king” is regaining its core competitiveness.

Soo Business Bank researcher Gao Zhengyang said that, currently, the core pain points of joint-stock banks’ transformation mainly lie in the context of continuously narrowing interest margins, where traditional functions face severe challenges, and emerging growth poles have yet to form sufficient profitability.

“Balancing the maintenance of advantages and filling in shortcomings, joint-stock banks should adhere to the idea of anchoring advantages and breaking through weaknesses, prioritizing consolidating core businesses with moat attributes, such as retail or corporate specialties, while relying on digital means to gradually fill gaps, avoiding resource misallocation caused by broad expansion.” Gao further pointed out that, in the long run, joint-stock banks need to further strengthen their differentiated positioning, transforming into boutique banks, building a technology-driven development model, improving refined management, and reconstructing cost and risk control systems through digitalization, thus creating a differentiated moat in niche tracks for high-quality development."

AI Race

If strategic direction determines the course of bank development, then AI technology is the key variable that determines the future acceleration. In 2025, all joint-stock banks will place AI at the core of their strategies, accelerating R&D and scene implementation, attempting to empower business quality and efficiency, reshape models, and seize opportunities in the wave of technological transformation.

For Ping An Bank, which is in a critical period of transformation, AI has become the key to “return to growth.” The bank proposes to comprehensively cover marketing, service, operations, risk control, and management with AI technology, driving business model innovation and efficiency improvements. In 2025, the bank’s IT capital expenditure and expenses reached 130.7k yuan. Ji Guangheng clearly stated, “We will continue to upgrade our technological capabilities, strengthen AI application, increase resource investment; focus on digital employees, precise marketing, and precise risk control, enhance data infrastructure, and evolve from human-machine collaboration to intelligent decision-making and automated execution.”

Everbright Bank measures AI application depth by the scale of token consumption, promoting intelligent applications from “usable” to “useful and frequently used.” Vice President Yang Bingbing revealed that in 2025, the bank’s technology investment will account for over 5% of operating income, with a focus on computing power, algorithms, data, and functions, deepening the integration of technology and business to enhance core competitiveness.

Minsheng Bank focuses on scene implementation and talent development, aiming to truly translate AI value into operational efficiency. CIO Zhang Bin believes that the ultimate value of AI is reflected through scene applications. In 2025, the bank will focus on high-value scenarios, completing over 40 key applications in marketing, risk control, and operations, with 261 new segmented applications, and an average daily AI service call volume exceeding 5 million, with generative AI calls increasing 16-fold year-on-year.

At the 2025 performance release, China Merchants Bank’s CIO Zhou Tianhong revealed that the bank’s daily token throughput increased 10.1 times compared to 2024, with 183 specialized models and 856 large model applications deployed across fields, saving over 15.56 million hours of manual work, equivalent to the workload of over 8,000 full-time employees. Zhou said the bank will categorize large model applications into high, medium, and low-value types, aiming for full deployment of high-value tasks by 2026.

Other banks are also steadily deploying in the AI track, each with their focus. CITIC Bank achieved over 120 AI large model applications in 2025, supporting efficiency improvements; Shanghai Pudong Development Bank elevates AI capability building to a strategic core, developing financial vertical large models and intelligent agents, promoting “understanding and using digital intelligence” across the entire bank; Zheshang Bank Chairman Chen Haiqiang proposed shifting from “technology as the responsibility of the tech department” to “technology as the whole bank’s responsibility,” truly realizing “leaving daily tasks to technology and reserving agility for employees.”

For banks, the 2025 AI race is no longer just about technological exploration but about integrating into the entire financial service process, improving quality and efficiency, and building long-term competitiveness. Gao Zhengyang believes that the current pain points in AI deployment among joint-stock banks lie in whether they can truly convert technology into practical productivity. Specifically, application scenarios are fragmented, with some banks still at the pilot stage without forming systemic empowerment across front, middle, and back offices; the return on investment is unclear, making it difficult to directly translate into profit growth in the short term, which may affect sustained investment willingness.

He suggests that future differentiation depends on deep integration of business, data, and scenarios. On one hand, banks should develop flagship AI applications in their advantageous fields—retail banks can strengthen intelligent advisory and customer management; corporate banks can focus on intelligent risk control and automated credit approval. On the other hand, AI should upgrade from a business auxiliary tool to a decision-making core, deeply embedded in core processes like credit approval, risk pricing, and customer segmentation. Meanwhile, continuous enhancement of data asset building and professional talent systems will create dual barriers of technology and scenarios, ultimately achieving high-quality development driven by AI.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Meng Fanxia and Zhou Yili