Weihai Bank achieves a steady conclusion in 2025, with Meng Dongxiao making outstanding contributions

Ask AI · How did Meng Dongxiao achieve leapfrog growth in bank asset size?

During Meng Dongxiao’s tenure, Weihai Bank’s asset size surged from 400 billion yuan to 500 billion yuan, with net profit growing at a double-digit rate year after year. High salaries are a reasonable reward for his outstanding operational achievements.

Produced by | Zhongfang Network

Reviewed by | Li Xiaoyan

Recently, Weihai Bank (09677.HK), listed in Hong Kong stocks, released its 2025 annual performance report. The report shows that, amid a complex and changing macroeconomic and financial environment, Weihai Bank has achieved coordinated improvements in scale, efficiency, and quality. Its asset size successfully broke through the 500 billion yuan mark, profitability maintained double-digit growth, core regulatory indicators fully met standards, demonstrating strong development resilience and sound management fundamentals. At the same time, facing industry-wide challenges, the bank proactively adjusted its retail business strategy, consolidating long-term development foundations amid short-term pain, while a market-oriented compensation mechanism provides talent support for its steady progress.

In 2025, Weihai Bank delivered an impressive performance. By the end of the year, total assets reached 504.52B yuan, a 14.28% increase from the previous year, officially ranking among medium-sized commercial banks domestically, and maintaining a top-three position among urban commercial banks in Shandong Province, continuously strengthening its industry position and market influence.

On the profitability front, the bank achieved operating income of 9.92B yuan, up 6.46% year over year; net profit reached 2.5B yuan, a 13.90% increase, significantly faster growth than revenue, reflecting good cost control and improved profitability. The liability side performed especially steadily, with total deposits reaching 342.33B yuan, a 16.64% increase from last year, providing stable and low-cost funding for credit issuance and business expansion.

In terms of asset quality, Weihai Bank maintained good risk control levels. The non-performing loan ratio at year-end was 1.41%, unchanged from the previous year, ranking in the excellent range among small and medium-sized banks. More proactively, the loan loss coverage ratio increased to 160.14%, up 4.07 percentage points from the end of last year, further strengthening risk buffers and solidifying defenses against potential risks. Core regulatory indicators such as capital adequacy ratio also fully met standards, ensuring operational safety and sustainability.

Looking at credit structure, Weihai Bank’s 2025 strategy showed a clear “strong corporate, stable retail” adjustment. At the end of the reporting period, corporate loans totaled 171.52B yuan, a 13.96% increase from the previous year, accounting for 76% of total loans, becoming the core driver of credit growth.

This change is not merely about scale expansion but reflects the bank’s focus on main business and serving the real economy. As a regional financial mainstay, Weihai Bank directs credit resources precisely toward high-quality regional enterprises, key projects, green industries, and inclusive finance, deeply integrating into the local economic development landscape. By enlarging and strengthening corporate banking, it effectively supports the real economy and, due to the low-risk nature of high-quality corporate assets, stabilizes the overall asset quality of the bank, serving as a “ballast stone” to navigate cycles.

Meanwhile, personal loans amounted to 37.41 billion yuan, accounting for less than 17%. This adjustment is a strategic choice based on macroeconomic conditions, market risks, and the bank’s own capacity. In recent years, challenges such as fluctuating consumer demand, intensified competition in personal credit markets, and rising risk control difficulties have become prominent. Weihai Bank has responded proactively by shrinking high-risk retail credit exposure, focusing resources on advantageous areas. This rational “doing less to do better” approach aims to build strength for a high-quality retail business restart in the future.

Undeniably, the quality of Weihai Bank’s retail loans has faced periodic pressure in recent years. Data shows that, influenced by macroeconomic downturns, high leverage in the household sector, and some early-stage risk control standards being lax, retail non-performing loans increased, with the NPL ratio expected to peak in 2025.

However, objectively, retail asset quality pressure is a common issue among small and medium-sized banks in recent years, not unique to Weihai Bank. More importantly, the bank has taken active measures to “cut out the poison”: on one hand, by proactively reducing volume and tightening access to control new risks at the source; on the other hand, by intensifying collection and disposal of non-performing assets to accelerate risk clearance. In 2025, despite a slight increase in total non-performing loans, the overall NPL ratio remained stable, and the provision coverage ratio rose against the trend, indicating effective risk resolution work and that the most difficult phase is passing.

Chairman Meng Dongxiao’s appointment marked the start of a retail transformation. Its core is not to revert to the old path of “scale first,” but to plan a new route of “light capital, high quality, intelligent.” Going forward, the bank is expected to leverage local resources, focusing on wealth management, consumer finance, community banking, and other areas, using fintech as a tool to deeply serve local customers, providing differentiated and scenario-based services, and transforming retail from “quantity expansion” to “quality leap.” The short-term structural adjustments are precisely to create conditions for long-term rebirth.

Market attention to executive compensation shows that Meng Dongxiao’s salary in 2025 was 2.04M yuan. While seemingly high for a small to medium-sized bank of similar asset size, it reflects a market-oriented incentive mechanism.

First, executive compensation is highly linked to performance. During Meng Dongxiao’s tenure, Weihai Bank’s asset size grew from 400 billion to 500 billion yuan, with net profit increasing at a double-digit rate annually. High salary is a reasonable reward for his excellent management results. Second, the gap between executive and average employee salaries aligns with banking industry norms of “high risk, high responsibility, high reward.” From 2021 to 2025, the bank’s average employee salary steadily increased from 262.8k yuan to 302k yuan, sharing benefits with management.

More importantly, Weihai Bank has established a compensation system that includes deferred payments and performance binding, linking top executives’ pay deeply with long-term risk management and prudent operation. This “high pay + strict constraints” mechanism not only attracts top financial talent but also effectively prevents short-term behaviors, providing key talent and governance support for sustainable development.

Overall, Weihai Bank’s 2025 performance is steady with highlights. The leap to 500 billion yuan in assets, strong profit growth, solid corporate banking support, demonstrate its comprehensive strength as a regional leader. Facing the phased challenges in retail, the bank proactively adjusted and responded, showing clear strategic focus and strong risk control. Its market-oriented compensation system also provides institutional support to maintain vitality amid fierce competition.

In the future, with macroeconomic recovery, gradual clearing of retail risks, and deeper digital transformation, Weihai Bank is expected to further consolidate its corporate advantage while achieving steady retail recovery and breakthroughs, charting a path of differentiated development that combines scale, efficiency, and特色，为地方经济高质量发展贡献更大金融力量。

Personal opinion, for reference only.