This week, 10 listed banks distribute cash payouts, with a total amount exceeding 90 billion yuan

Securities Daily reporter Peng Yan

Entering July, listed banks’ 2025 annual cash dividend redemption has entered a centralized payout period. According to Wind data, as of July 8, the reporter’s deadline, 35 listed banks had released implementation announcements for their 2025 annual equity distribution and set their dividend dates; this week (July 6 to 10) marked a dividend payment peak. A total of 10 banks distributed cash dividends in a concentrated manner, involving cash dividend payments totaling more than 900 billion yuan.

Interviewed experts said that this round of centralized bank dividends highlights the sector’s core advantage of high dividend yields. Combined with the sector’s valuations being at historical lows and marginal improvements in industry fundamentals, banks’ earnings and dividend payouts have long-term and steady support. In the second half of the year, market attention will continue to focus on the allocation value of the bank sector.

Selected banks

Dividend scale exceeds 10 billion yuan

This year’s listed bank dividend timing is highly concentrated. A total of 10 banks have scheduled to complete ex-dividend and cash distribution within this week. On July 7, Chongqing Bank and Wuxi Bank completed the annual dividend payout first. Among them, Chongqing Bank will pay a cash dividend of 0.2797 yuan per share (including tax), for a total cash dividend of 10.14 billion yuan (including tax); Wuxi Bank will pay a cash dividend of 0.13 yuan per share (including tax), for a total cash dividend of 2.85 billion yuan. After adding the interim dividend, the total cash dividends for the full year of 2025 will be 5.27 billion yuan (including tax). On July 8 and July 9, Qingnongshang Bank and Qilu Bank implemented dividends one after another. Qingnongshang Bank’s dividend plan is a cash dividend of 0.12 yuan per share (including tax); Qilu Bank’s cash dividend this time is 0.1282 yuan per share (including tax), totaling 7.89 billion yuan (including tax). After adding the interim dividend, the total cash dividends for the full year of 2025 will be 15.34 billion yuan (including tax).

This week’s dividend payment peak is July 10. China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and China Merchants Bank—three leading banks—are all scheduled to pay dividends on that day. The single-round dividend payout scale of each of the three banks exceeds 10 billion yuan. Among them, China Construction Bank will pay a cash dividend of 0.1169 yuan per share (pre-tax), totaling 37.67 billion yuan (pre-tax). After adding the interim dividend, the total ordinary share dividend payout for the full year of 2025 is approximately 72.917 billion yuan (pre-tax); Bank of Communications will pay a cash dividend of 0.1684 yuan per share (including tax), totaling 14.88 billion yuan (including tax); China Merchants Bank will pay a cash dividend of 1.003 yuan per share (including tax), totaling approximately 25.295 billion yuan (including tax). After adding the interim dividend, the total cash dividends for the full year of 2025 will be approximately 50.843 billion yuan (including tax).

In addition, three city commercial banks are also scheduled to distribute dividends on July 10. Beijing Bank plans to distribute cash dividends of 5.878 billion yuan (including tax), Jiangsu Bank plans to distribute cash dividends of 4.28 billion yuan (including tax), and Xi’an Bank plans to distribute cash dividends of 0.444 billion yuan (including tax).

Bank sector in the second half of the year

Expected to see a configuration window

Xue Hongyan, a special researcher at SuShang Bank, told Securities Daily reporter that July is usually a period when listed banks concentrate dividend payments. Recently, multiple large banks have simultaneously carried out annual dividend distributions, which is a routine financial operation to honor profit distribution commitments. The highly synchronized dividend timing among multiple banks may appear coincidental, but in fact it reflects the unified coordination of internal operating processes and market dividend arrangements. This week’s centralized bank dividend distribution has formed a “dividend resonance,” further reinforcing the sector’s attribute as high-dividend-yield assets.

The market is currently in a low interest rate environment, and the allocation value of bank stocks with high dividend yields continues to stand out. Wind data shows that, based on the dividend yield (past 12 months) and using the July 8 closing price, among 42 listed banks, 28 have dividend yields above 4%. Of these, 12 listed banks have dividend yields above 5%, including China Merchants Bank, Industrial Bank, Everbright Bank, Shanghai Bank, Ping An Bank, and Minsheng Bank.

Regarding market concerns about whether long-term high-percentage dividend payouts can be sustained in the context of the continuing narrowing of banks’ net interest margins, Xue Hongyan analyzed that the core of the sustainability of large dividends lies in balancing profitability transformation and capital replenishment capacity. At present, dividend funds mainly come from retained profits over past years and stable operating earnings. Dividend capacity cannot rely solely on a single indicator such as net interest margin; it also needs to be supported by the expansion of non-interest income and more fine-tuned cost control. As long as asset quality does not face systemic risks, and the capital adequacy ratio leaves sufficient buffer, the dividend mechanism formed by leading banks that has reached market consensus will have strong rigidity. The industry’s dividend distribution pattern will show structural differentiation: leading large banks, supported by diversified income structures and improved capital replenishment channels, can keep dividends stable, while some smaller and mid-sized banks may reduce dividend payout ratios due to capital constraints.

Zhou Yiqin, founder of Canbi Consulting, told Securities Daily reporter that state-owned large banks and joint-stock banks have support from low-cost deposit accumulation and diversified non-interest income, and are expected to continue to maintain relatively stable dividend payout ratios. By contrast, the sustainability of dividends for city commercial banks and rural commercial banks is weaker, and some institutions have already lowered dividend payout ratios. Looking long term, industry dividend distribution will shift from high-percentage, large-scale cash payouts toward steady and moderate distribution. Banks need to balance shareholder returns with internal capital accumulation.

In addition, Xue Hongyan said that the bank sector’s valuation repair is supported by a resonance of three logics: first, the sector’s valuations are at historical lows, leaving limited downside room; second, the dividend yield stands out versus government bond yields, continuing to attract long-term capital seeking steady returns; third, the market’s extremely pessimistic expectations regarding asset quality have already been fully digested. Combined with reform dividends such as valuation-metric performance assessments and other reform dividends related to market value management, these factors will jointly open up space for valuation repair.