Bank Annual Report Season: Ping An Bank's Retail Business Shows a Turnaround, CITIC Bank's Dividend Payout Ratio Reaches 31.75%

Questioning AI · Non-interest net income generally declines, why does CITIC Bank grow against the trend?

Text | Wu Haishan

Editor | Lin Weiping

The annual reports of listed banks in 2025 have begun to be disclosed, with Ping An Bank (000001.SZ), CITIC Bank (601998.SH), Chongqing Bank, and Yunnan Rural Commercial Bank leading the way, each showing distinctive features and highlights.

Ping An’s retail non-performing exposure peak has passed, CITIC’s dividend payout ratio has risen to 31.75%, Chongqing Bank’s various indicators have grown by over 20%, and Yunnan Rural Commercial Bank’s fundamentals remain stable. But at the same time, the widespread decline in non-interest net income has become a commonality among many banks.

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Ping An Bank: Retail Business Shows Significant Recovery

Ping An Bank remains the first A-share bank to release its annual report.

On March 21, Ping An Bank released its 2025 financial report. The report shows that by the end of 2025, Ping An Bank’s total assets reached 59.2577 trillion yuan, a 2.7% increase from the end of the previous year; operating income was 131.44B yuan, down 10.4% year-on-year; and net profit was 42.63B yuan, down 4.2% year-on-year.

However, market attention in this financial report was focused on changes in its retail business. Ping An Bank is one of the benchmark retail banks in A-shares, with the strategic goal of becoming “China’s most outstanding and globally leading intelligent retail bank,” but its retail segment has faced pressure in recent years.

Nevertheless, the 2025 financial report indicates that Ping An Bank’s retail business may be turning a corner. According to the report, in 2025, retail operating income was 61.63B yuan, accounting for 46.9% of total revenue, down from 48.6% in 2024. However, the net profit contribution from retail business to the entire bank’s net profit has significantly increased. In 2024, retail contributed only 0.6% of net profit, which rose to 6.3% in 2025.

At the same time, the report shows that in 2025, Ping An Bank’s personal loan non-performing rate decreased from 1.39% in 2024 to 1.23%, a decline of 0.16%. The bank stated that this was mainly due to continuous optimization of its retail asset portfolio strategy, increasing the proportion of high-quality customers, and promoting a balance among “volume, price, and risk.” The report indicates that retail loans at Ping An Bank totaled 17.2274 trillion yuan in 2025, down 2.3% from 2024.

CITIC Securities analyst Ma Kunpeng said, “Ping An Bank’s retail non-performing exposure peak has passed, loan structure continues to optimize, and interest margin decline has further narrowed,” and with a low base, profit growth in 2026 is expected to recover positively.

CITIC Bank: Increased Dividend Payout Ratio

CITIC Bank and Ping An Bank released their 2025 financial reports on the same day. The most notable aspect of CITIC Bank’s 2025 report is the increase in dividend payout ratio.

CITIC Bank’s dividend plan shows that it intends to pay a cash dividend of 1.93 yuan (including tax) per 10 shares to A-share and H-share shareholders, with a total cash dividend of 10.74B yuan for common shareholders, combined with the interim cash dividend of 10.461 billion yuan (1.88 yuan per 10 shares), the total annual cash dividend amounts to 10.46B yuan (3.81 yuan per 10 shares), accounting for 31.75% of its net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders after consolidation for the year.

Looking at a longer cycle, CITIC Bank’s cash dividend payout ratio in 2024 was 30.5%. In fact, CITIC Bank significantly increased its cash dividend ratio in 2024. From 2021 to 2023, the ratio was approximately 28%.

Meanwhile, CITIC Bank’s fundamentals also show a clear upward trend. In 2025, its total assets surpassed 10 trillion yuan for the first time, reaching 101.3103 trillion yuan, a 6.28% increase from the end of the previous year; operating income was 21.2B yuan, a slight decrease of 0.55%; but net profit attributable to shareholders was 212.48B yuan, up 2.98% year-on-year.

More attention is given to the quarterly data of CITIC Bank’s fundamentals in Q4. Huachuang Securities analyst Lin Wanhui pointed out in a research report that, “CITIC Bank’s quarterly revenue grew by 8.6% year-on-year, with a sequential increase of 13.1 percentage points,” mainly due to the continued strengthening of core revenue capacity. Meanwhile, quarterly net interest income turned positive with a 0.16% YoY growth; quarterly other non-interest income grew by over 50% YoY. For the full year 2025, CITIC Bank achieved net interest income of 70.62B yuan, down 1.51% from last year, and non-interest income of 144.47B yuan, up 1.55%.

Lin Wanhui stated that CITIC Bank’s improving fundamentals and increased dividend payout ratio will attract long-term incremental capital to increase holdings, pushing up the PB valuation.

Long-term funds favor joint-stock banks

In the 2025 financial reports of Ping An Bank and CITIC Bank, it can also be observed that long-term funds such as insurance funds frequently appear among the top ten shareholders.

Among Ping An Bank’s top ten shareholders, “Ping An Group” holds three seats: Ping An Insurance, Ping An Life’s own funds, and Ping An Life’s traditional ordinary insurance. Besides, four seats are held by CSI 300 index funds, including China Industrial Bank Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF, China Construction Bank E Fund CSI 300 ETF, China Industrial Bank Huaxia CSI 300 ETF, and Bank of China Harvest CSI 300 ETF, ranking sixth, seventh, eighth, and tenth respectively, with shareholding ratios of 0.83%, 0.59%, 0.45%, and 0.39%.

In CITIC Bank’s top ten shareholders, the fifth, ninth, and tenth are all long-term funds. They are China Life Insurance Co., Ltd. traditional ordinary insurance products, China Life Insurance Co., Ltd. dividend personal dividend, and China Construction Bank Huaxia Wealth Theme Mixed Securities Investment Fund, with shareholding ratios of 1.63%, 0.2%, and 0.16%, respectively, mostly added in 2025.

Chongqing Bank:

Scale, growth, and speed all hit record highs

On March 25, Chongqing Bank released its financial report, which can be described as “high prosperity,” with many indicators increasing by about 20%.

As of 2025, Chongqing Bank’s total assets reached 1.0337 trillion yuan, a 20.67% increase from the end of last year; total loans were 68.01B yuan, up 20.58%; and total deposits were 1.03T yuan, up 19.32%. Among them, corporate loans increased by 531.29B yuan from the beginning of the year, a 30.95% increase from the end of last year, with scale, growth, and speed all setting new records.

Meanwhile, operating income and net profit also grew by nearly double digits. In 2025, Chongqing Bank achieved operating income of 565.7B yuan, a 10.48% increase from the same period last year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 5.654 billion yuan, up 10.49%.

The biggest contribution to Chongqing Bank’s revenue and net profit growth came from net interest income. In 2025, its net interest income was 96.86B yuan, an increase of 22.44% from last year.

In 2025, the average balance of interest-earning assets was 15.11B yuan, up 18.39% from last year; the average yield on interest-earning assets decreased by 27 basis points to 3.53%. The average balance of interest-bearing liabilities was 5.65B yuan, up 22.02%; the average cost rate of interest-bearing liabilities decreased by 40 basis points to 2.18%. As a result, Chongqing Bank’s net interest margin increased against the trend by 4 basis points to 1.39%.

The asset quality of Chongqing Bank showed a “three declines and one rise.” As of the end of 2025, its non-performing loan ratio was 1.14%, down 0.11 percentage points from the end of last year; special mention loans accounted for 1.94%, down 0.70 percentage points; overdue loans accounted for 1.36%, down 0.37 percentage points; and the loan loss reserve coverage ratio was 245.58%, up 0.50 percentage points.

At the same time as the earnings release, Chongqing Bank also announced its end-of-2025 dividend plan, proposing a cash dividend of 2.918 yuan (including tax) per 10 shares, totaling 1.014 billion yuan (including tax). The total cash dividends for 2025 (including the pre-distribution for Q3) amount to 1.599 billion yuan (including tax), with a cash dividend payout ratio of 30%. According to Huatai Securities analyst Shen Juan’s estimate, the dividend yield of Chongqing Bank’s A-shares is 4.21% (data as of March 24).

Another bank in the Sichuan-Chongqing region, Yunnan Rural Commercial Bank, also released its 2025 financial report on March 26. In 2025, Yunnan Rural Commercial Bank’s assets reached 1.6657 trillion yuan, deposits 1.0287 trillion yuan, loans 797.3 billion yuan, with growth rates of 9.95%, 9.21%, and 11.62%, respectively. The full-year operating income was 28.65 billion yuan, net profit 12.42 billion yuan, with YoY increases of 1.37% and 5.35%. Like Chongqing Bank, Yunnan Rural Commercial Bank’s net interest income increased YoY, reaching 12.46B yuan, up 7.85%.

Yunnan Rural Commercial Bank’s dividend plan shows that in 2025, it paid a mid-term cash dividend of 2.0336 yuan (including tax) per 10 shares, totaling 2.310 billion yuan (including tax). At year-end, it plans to distribute a cash dividend of 1.1755 yuan (including tax) per 10 shares, totaling 1.335 billion yuan (including tax). The total cash dividends distributed to all shareholders in 2025 amount to 3.2091 yuan per 10 shares (including tax), totaling 1.01B yuan (including tax), accounting for 30.05% of the net profit attributable to shareholders in 2025.

Non-interest net income is the biggest drag on performance

Ping An Bank’s financial report shows that in 2025, its non-interest net income was 1.6B yuan, down 18.5% YoY. Among them, net fee and commission income was 24.26B yuan, down 0.9%; other non-interest income declined by 33%. Ma Kunpeng said that Ping An Bank’s revenue and profit in 2025 were under pressure mainly due to the drag from other non-interest income.

The factors dragging down Chongqing Bank’s revenue and net profit are also non-interest income. In 2025, Chongqing Bank’s non-interest net income was 2.31B yuan, down 24.24% YoY. Among them, fee and commission income was 598 million yuan, down 32.66%; gains from fair value changes and investment income were 1.928 billion yuan, down 21.95%.

Yunnan Rural Commercial Bank’s non-interest net income was 1.34B yuan, down 23.92% YoY. Fee and commission income fell 19.17% to 3.65B yuan, and other non-interest income declined 25.55% to 43.42B yuan.

Among the four banks, CITIC Bank performed the best in non-interest net income. In 2025, CITIC Bank’s non-interest net income reached 23.89B yuan, up 1.55% YoY. Among them, fee and commission income was 2.65B yuan, up 5.58%. Other non-interest income, including investment income, was 1.93B yuan, down 1.93%.

(This article was published in the March 28 issue of “Securities Market Weekly.” The stocks mentioned are for illustrative analysis only and do not constitute investment advice.)