Is the bill market sending new signals? This year, the constraints on the scale of loans approved by small and medium-sized banks have been relaxed, while large banks still play the role of "ballast"

Questioning AI · Does the countercyclical ticket collection by state-owned major banks indicate an improvement in credit quality?

Cailian Press, April 4th (Reporter Liang Kezhi) The bill market has always been one of the observation points for credit. Recently, industry insiders have learned that in March this year, the bill market sent signals different from previous years: joint-stock banks reduced bills by about 190 billion yuan year-on-year, while state-owned large banks and the Agricultural Development Bank shifted from a net reduction of 60 billion yuan last year to a net purchase of over 120 billion yuan.

Zhou Haibin, Vice President of Shanghai Pulian Financial Services, told reporters that in March, the central rates for bill discounting and direct discounting continued to decline, and the overall transaction volume for small and medium-sized banks (including joint-stock banks) also continued to decrease. According to feedback from institutions, an important reason is that the acceptable loan scale requirements for small and medium-sized banks have been relaxed.

The reporter contacted several joint-stock banks and city commercial banks’ business personnel for verification, confirming that the “relaxation of scale requirements” indeed exists. Moreover, many bank corporate business personnel also told the reporter that due to the diminishing scale requirements, inland city banks’ credit issuance in the first quarter was weaker than in previous years, with some banks’ issuance decreasing by about 30%-40% year-on-year.

Multiple interviewed banks: this year, credit scale requirements have been relaxed, increasing flexibility

Several bank insiders confirmed to Cailian Press that the previously emphasized requirements from relevant departments, such as “loan growth not less than a certain percentage” and “meeting scale targets,” have been significantly relaxed this year.

An employee from a joint-stock bank’s corporate finance department told the reporter that the head office still emphasizes technology and new industries when setting this year’s issuance targets, but the rigid growth requirements for other areas, such as inclusive loans, are weakening.

Changes at the local level are also obvious. A city commercial bank in the western region said that in previous years, relevant departments would guide loan issuance through window guidance, but this year, it has shifted to statistical reporting without scale requirements; a branch manager of a city commercial bank in Central China directly stated that this year, “the flexibility range for scale assessments is increasing.”

More critically, there is a structural change. Some bank personnel mentioned that in the past two years, the proportion of new local credit from large banks has generally exceeded 50%, and in some regions even reached 70%. A senior city commercial bank professional in Guangdong analyzed that under such a business pattern, continuing to impose “acceptable scale” constraints on small and medium-sized banks no longer makes much sense.

A Beijing-based securities bank analyst believed that the practice of “reducing burdens” on small and medium-sized banks, as reflected by frontline feedback, essentially acknowledges the reality of bank competition stratification—that small and medium-sized banks are no longer the main players in total expansion, but more focused on regional service and differentiated positioning.

Some interviewees told the reporter that this year, “less lending” no longer necessarily means increased assessment pressure. In the past, if the acceptable indicators at month-end or quarter-end had not been met, there was often a prompt call.

Large banks will still bear the responsibility of maintaining total stability

In stark contrast to the “relaxation” of pressure on joint-stock and city commercial banks, state-owned large banks still bear the responsibility of maintaining stable credit totals.

Data from the bill market also supports this trend. According to information obtained by the Cailian Press, in March 2025, the net reduction in rediscounting business by state-owned large banks was still dominant, but by March 2026, it shifted to a net purchase of over 120 billion yuan. Amid declining bill rates and insufficient market demand, these large banks increased their allocation against the trend, effectively playing the role of a “stabilizer” for the total social financing.

Additionally, industry insiders pointed out that the nature of “ticket collection” by large state-owned banks has changed. Zhou Haibin believes that now, the increase in bill volume by large banks is more about real loans and asset allocation, rather than relying on short-term tools like bills to simply boost volume. This also indicates that the quality requirements for credit issuance are rising, with total volume expansion and structural optimization progressing simultaneously.

The Cailian Press noted that this aligns with the spirit of the first-quarter meeting of the People’s Bank of China’s Monetary Policy Committee on March 26. The meeting emphasized guiding large banks to play a leading role in serving the real economy, encouraging small and medium-sized banks to focus on their main responsibilities, and strengthening bank capital adequacy.

Pulian Financial Services’ report states that in March 2026, the 6-month Chinese government bond yield once fell below 1%, indicating a coexistence of ample liquidity and asset scarcity. Against the backdrop of strengthened regulation to curb “involution-style competition” and “diminished focus on credit totals,” measures will be taken to curb mass “bill-to-loan” conversions.

(Reporter Liang Kezhi, Cailian Press)