Кілька малих і середніх банків знизили ставки, зосереджуючись на своїх високовартісних продуктах

The Securities Times reporter Lin Yu

At the beginning of April, several small and medium-sized banks announced reductions to their deposit benchmark interest rates. The reduction ranges from 5 to 30 basis points.

In its announcement, Xiamen Bank stated that, effective from April 1, the benchmark interest rates of multiple deposit products will be adjusted. After the adjustment, the annualized interest rates for one-year, three-year, and five-year term deposits will be 1.2%, 1.4%, and 1.4%, respectively, representing decreases of 10, 20, and 20 basis points compared with before the adjustment. Meanwhile, the bank also notified that the annualized interest rate of deposits (one day) has been reduced by 5 basis points to 0.65% from before.

Jilin Bank has only lowered the benchmark interest rate of one term deposit product. Effective from April 1, the annualized interest rate for its three-year term deposits with principal and interest kept together will be lowered from 1.75% to 1.7%, with a reduction of 5 basis points. However, it still leaves a “inversion” of 10 basis points compared with the bank’s annualized interest rate of 1.6% for five-year term deposits.

Fujian Haixia Bank, meanwhile, adjusted the benchmark interest rates for RMB agreed deposits and notice deposits. Starting from April 1, the benchmark agreed deposit rate (Fujian province) will be lowered by 5 basis points to 0.6%. The one-day and seven-day notice deposit interest rates (Fujian province) will be lowered by 10 and 20 basis points to 0.6% and 0.9%, respectively.

In addition to city commercial banks, multiple rural commercial banks and township banks have also joined this round of rate cuts, including Hubei Jiangling Rural Commercial Bank, Jilin Hunjiang Rural Commercial Bank, and Huixian Zhjiang Township Bank, among others.

Among them, Huixian Zhjiang Township Bank reduced the interest rates of its products for one-year, two-year, three-year, and five-year deposits with principal and interest kept together. Taking the one-year term as an example: before the adjustment, the annualized interest rate for deposits below 10,000 yuan was 1.36%, and for deposits above 10,000 yuan it was 1.51%. After the adjustment, both are 1.21%, with the maximum reduction reaching 30 basis points.

“After ‘Open Sesame/Big Sales Day’ ends, the banking industry needs to refocus on controlling the cost of liabilities. At this time, choosing to lower deposit interest rates can reduce deposit costs and optimize the liability term structure.” Wang Pengbo, Chief Analyst at Boto Consulting, told The Securities Times reporter.

Dong Shimiao, Chief Economist at China UnionPay and Deputy Director of the Shanghai Finance and Development Laboratory, also pointed out that, in order to absorb deposits and stabilize liabilities, small and medium-sized banks may raise deposit interest rates in phases at key time points such as “Open Sesame/Big Sales Day,” to attract new funds and retain existing customers. This is also a direct way to respond to deposit competition and complete performance assessments.

Judging from the annual reports recently released by multiple listed banks, controlling the cost of liabilities has become a key industry measure for “stabilizing interest spread.” It has effectively helped keep the decline in interest spread from widening. A research report released by Ma Tingting’s team at Guotai Junan Securities stated that, thanks to the narrowing of the interest spread decline and the warming up of fee income, the growth rate of listed banks’ performance in 2025 showed marginal improvement.

For example, at China Citic Bank, at an earnings meeting the Chairman Fang Yingfang said: “Liability business volume-and-price balance management is one of the key operational highlights of 2025. It helps us truly build a ‘wide buffer band’ against the impact of low interest spread.”

He mentioned that in 2025, China Citic Bank’s “control of high-cost liabilities” will be even more powerful and effective. The combined proportion of three-year deposits, structured deposits, and agreed deposits is below 32%. A relatively reasonable liability structure has brought clear advantages in funding cost.

This round of interest rate cuts by small and medium-sized banks is also concentrated on high-cost products such as three-year and five-year term deposits and agreed deposits. “It is expected that more small and medium-sized banks will follow up by lowering the annualized interest rates of high-cost deposit products.” Wang Pengbo said.

Dong Shimiao believes that, for banks to achieve long-term and sound development, the core lies in strategically breaking away from path dependency on short-term scale rushes. And through reform of incentive and constraint mechanisms, this strategy should be conveyed to the grassroots level. Turning “Open Sesame/Big Sales Day” from a short-term marketing campaign into a natural starting point for banks to serve customers throughout the year and create value, ultimately achieving dynamic balance among scale, efficiency, and quality.

(Editor: Qian Xiaorui)

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