Understanding Zhengzhou Bank's 2025 annual report is equivalent to understanding a breakthrough example for regional banks.

In the current environment where regional economic and financial reforms are continuously advancing, local corporate banks like Zhengzhou Bank serve not only as a benchmark for their own performance but also as an important window to observe the resilience of the local economy and the effectiveness of financial support for the real economy.

On March 31, Zhengzhou Bank released its 2025 annual report, presenting an impressive achievement of steady growth in scale, gradual improvement in efficiency, and ongoing optimization of structure.

What the report showcases is not just a series of positive financial data, but also how a regional bank maintains its strategic focus and meticulous operations, demonstrating its strategic resolve and growth logic in serving the high-quality development of the local economy.

Synergy of Scale, Efficiency, and Quality

Reviewing the development history of China’s banking industry, from the past pursuit of scale expansion to the current focus on value creation, the path toward high-quality development has become increasingly clear.

Zhengzhou Bank’s performance in 2025 sketches a path of “steady scale growth, continuous efficiency improvement, and significant quality enhancement,” providing valuable insights for the transformation and breakthrough of regional banks.

By the end of 2025, Zhengzhou Bank’s total assets reached 743.67B yuan, an increase of 9.95%. Notably, its asset growth rate hit a new high since 2018.

This steady expansion of scale is not blind “spreading out,” but closely linked to its fundamental positioning of “serving the local economy, small and medium-sized enterprises, and urban and rural residents.” This is evident from its loan scale, which by the end of 2025 reached 410.26B yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.82%.

While expanding its scale, Zhengzhou Bank also maintained stable profitability and improved asset quality.

In 2025, Zhengzhou Bank achieved operating income of 12.92B yuan, up 0.34%; net profit of 1.91B yuan, up 2.44%. Meanwhile, asset quality further improved, with the non-performing loan ratio dropping to 1.71%, down 0.08 percentage points from the previous year-end, maintaining a downward trend for three consecutive years. The loan loss provision coverage ratio increased to 185.81%. Between these rises and falls, Zhengzhou Bank’s risk buffer has become more solid.

In liquidity management, Zhengzhou Bank also performed steadily. As of the report period’s end, its liquidity ratio, liquidity coverage ratio, and net stable funding ratio were 94.27%, 226.73%, and 123.16%, respectively, all significantly above regulatory requirements.

This confirms the widely circulated banking industry adage: “The essence of prudent bank operation is not risk avoidance, but risk management.” Zhengzhou Bank has strengthened forward-looking credit risk management and continuously optimized asset structure, achieving systemic improvement in asset quality and laying a solid foundation for its long-term stable operation.

Structural Changes in the “Five Major Articles”

If scale, efficiency, and quality constitute the basic framework of development, then the optimization of business structure and strategic focus determine the future growth space and competitiveness of the bank.

The “Five Major Articles” proposed at the Central Financial Work Conference—technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance, and digital finance—point the direction for financial services to the real economy. Zhengzhou Bank has deeply integrated these with its “1+2+4+N” target task system for Henan, forging a clear strategic path for serving the local area.

Zhengzhou Bank regards technology finance as a key lever for cultivating new productive forces, establishing four new technology-focused branches, strengthening collaboration with provincial research institutions, and adhering to the philosophy of “early investment, small-scale, long-term, and hard-tech” to precisely empower. By the end of 2025, the balance of technology loans reached 33.24B yuan, a substantial increase of 25.57% from the beginning of the year. This focus on serving early-stage tech startups is injecting financial momentum into the future industrial development of the region.

To fulfill the dual carbon goals, Zhengzhou Bank has established the first two green specialty branches, launched dedicated green approval channels, and set up exclusive credit quotas, guiding financial resources toward green and low-carbon industries, supporting industrial transformation toward sustainability.

Inclusive finance is an important measure of a bank’s depth and breadth in serving the real economy. Zhengzhou Bank accelerates the construction of a full-lifecycle, multi-scenario inclusive loan product system. By the end of 2025, inclusive micro and small business loans totaled 57.33B yuan, a 6.78% increase from the start of the year; the number of loan customers increased to 78,680, with continuous expansion of service coverage.

Particularly noteworthy is its innovative “Zheng Hui Dai” product, which combines “digital risk control + in-depth due diligence,” effectively alleviating the financing difficulties of small and micro clients characterized by “small amounts, high frequency, and urgent needs.” Additionally, Zhengzhou Bank deepens cooperation with the “Zhenghao Rong” government service platform and has established 23 offline “Financial Service Hubs,” forming an integrated “online + offline” service network to truly bridge the “last mile” of inclusive finance.

In pension finance, Zhengzhou Bank continues to increase financial support for pension infrastructure and medical-care services along the industrial chain, while enhancing the elderly-friendly features of offline services to better meet the multi-layered, specialized financial needs of seniors.

In digital finance, Zhengzhou Bank insists on technological leadership, systematically advancing digitalization and intelligent transformation of operations and management, and accelerating the construction of a smart banking system. By the end of 2025, the digital economy loan balance reached 6.75B yuan, a 27.78% increase.

The coordinated promotion of the “Five Major Articles” reflects Zhengzhou Bank’s profound shift from “passive response” to “proactive layout,” from “single credit” to “comprehensive service.”

New Momentum in Retail Transformation and Wealth Management

With the deepening of interest rate marketization and changing customer needs, developing retail business and expanding wealth management have become common consensus in the banking industry for seeking new growth drivers.

Jim Collins pointed out in “Good to Great” that outstanding companies can find a growth flywheel and keep pushing it to accelerate. For Zhengzhou Bank, retail and wealth management are precisely its key growth flywheels.

On the liability side, Zhengzhou Bank’s personal deposits demonstrate strong resilience and customer stickiness. By the end of 2025, personal deposit balance reached 271.85B yuan, a significant increase of 24.60%, far exceeding the 14.47% growth rate of total deposits. This reflects both customer trust and an optimized liability structure, reducing overall funding costs.

On the asset side, total personal loans reached 97.01B yuan, including personal consumption loans surpassing 20 billion yuan for the first time, with a high growth rate of 20.9%. The rapid growth of consumer credit directly reflects Zhengzhou Bank’s active service to livelihoods and response to the national strategy of expanding domestic demand.

If retail deposit and loan business have laid a solid foundation, wealth management is opening new growth space. As a key indicator of a bank’s comprehensive financial service capability and value creation, Zhengzhou Bank’s wealth management business performed impressively in 2025. Retail wealth management assets reached 57.25B yuan, up 11.57%; wealth management income reached 56.8456 million yuan, an increase of 86.11%, achieving both volume and income growth.

Behind this achievement are continuous product system improvements and deepened customer service. In 2025, Zhengzhou Bank introduced 675 high-quality agency products, iterated “county-specific” and other specialty product lines, and explored innovative tools like asset service trusts, building a comprehensive wealth product shelf covering multiple customer needs. Meanwhile, it upgraded its wealth brand rights system and strengthened full-lifecycle customer engagement and digital service empowerment.

The rapid development of wealth management not only brings substantial non-interest income but also enhances customer loyalty, marking Zhengzhou Bank’s transformation from a traditional deposit-loan bank to a “wealth manager” providing comprehensive asset allocation solutions.

Conclusion: Rooted Locally, Steady and Far-reaching

Looking back at 2025, Zhengzhou Bank maintained steady growth and continuously improved asset quality amid a complex and changing environment. This achievement stems from its long-standing roots in Henan and its unwavering focus on serving the real economy.

As the Book of Changes states: “When exhausted, change; when changed, communication; when in communication, lasting.” Zhengzhou Bank seeks development through transformation, pursues breakthroughs through stability, and has charted a path of high-quality development aligned with its own endowments and regional needs.

Looking ahead, Zhengzhou Bank will continue to deepen its roots in Henan, serve the local economy, support small and medium-sized enterprises, and serve urban and rural residents, injecting continuous financial strength into regional high-quality development.

Editor | Chen Bin