Net Profit Exceeds 7 Billion for the First Time, CITIC Bank's Dividend Finally Becomes More Generous

Bank of China enters the “100 Trillion Yuan Club” and releases its 2025 performance report first.

On March 20, Bank of China (601998.SH) announced that in 2025, the bank achieved operating income of 212.475 billion yuan, a decrease of 0.55% from the previous year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 70.618 billion yuan, an increase of 2.98%.

The biggest highlight of Bank of China’s annual report is the stepwise leap in asset size. As of the end of 2025, the bank’s total assets reached 10.13 trillion yuan, a 6.28% increase from the end of the previous year. Together with China Merchants Bank, Industrial Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, it forms the “100 Trillion Yuan Tier” of joint-stock banks.

Over the past five years, Bank of China’s total assets have grown relatively steadily. Although the growth rate declined for four consecutive years earlier, the overall change has been smooth without large fluctuations. After four consecutive declines in growth rate, the bank’s asset growth again showed signs of recovery in 2025.

However, in terms of revenue performance, Bank of China performed slightly worse than the other three “100 Trillion Yuan” joint-stock banks. According to previous earnings reports, China Merchants Bank, Industrial Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank had revenue growth rates of 0.01%, 0.24%, and 1.88% in 2025, respectively, while Bank of China was the only one to experience a decline.

In recent years, Bank of China has maintained a balanced, steady, and sustainable main tone, which explains the revenue decline.

Compared to revenue growth, Bank of China has achieved positive net profit growth for five consecutive years, which is relatively rare among joint-stock banks. Chairman Fang Heyi also stated in the annual report that the bank’s net profit has achieved “three jumps” to 50 billion, 60 billion, and 70 billion yuan over five years, making it one of the few joint-stock banks to maintain five consecutive years of positive growth.

It is worth noting that Bank of China’s dividend payout in 2025 reached a new high. According to the profit distribution plan, the bank plans to pay a cash dividend of 1.93 yuan (including tax) per 10 shares, with a total cash dividend of 10.740 billion yuan for the year; combined with the interim cash dividends of 10.461 billion yuan already paid, the total annual payout reaches 21.201 billion yuan.

In fact, as a leading joint-stock bank, Bank of China’s dividend ratio is much lower than that of China Merchants Bank. In recent years, China Merchants Bank’s annual cash dividend ratio has remained above 30%, while Bank of China has not reached 30% since 2017.

In 2025, Bank of China’s two cash dividends had a payout ratio of 30.02%, with both the dividend amount and ratio hitting nearly a decade-high, significantly enhancing its attractiveness.

Net interest income slightly declined

Under the bank’s balanced, steady, and sustainable operating philosophy, 2025 once again delivered a “profit growth without revenue growth” report card. This is also the first revenue decline in five years after a 2.6% drop in 2023.

The growth in net profit mainly came from adjustments through provisions. In 2025, Bank of China made impairment provisions of 58.172 billion yuan, accounting for 27.38% of revenue.

From 2021 to 2024, impairment provisions as a percentage of revenue were 37.67%, 33.78%, 30.21%, and 28.6%, respectively. It shows that in an environment of continued narrowing of bank interest margins, reducing provisions to adjust profits has become an important means of stabilizing earnings.

The persistent narrowing of interest margins was a common pressure faced by banks in 2025, and Bank of China was no exception. As of the end of 2025, the bank’s net interest margin was 1.63%, down 14 basis points from the end of the previous year. Last year, net interest income was 144.469 billion yuan, down 1.51% year-on-year, while non-interest income reached 68.006 billion yuan, up 1.55%.

The decline and growth of the two major income streams were roughly aligned, but since interest income is larger, the growth in non-interest income could not offset the decline in interest income.

Meanwhile, the bank is also cutting costs to ensure profit margins. In 2025, operating expenses were 128.801 billion yuan, a decrease of 2.95% year-on-year. Among them, business and management expenses totaled 67.159 billion yuan, down 2.251 billion yuan or 3.24%.

In terms of asset quality, Bank of China performed well. As of the end of 2025, the non-performing loan ratio was 1.15%, down 0.01 percentage points from 2024, marking seven consecutive years of decline.

Regarding the bank’s 2026 operating strategy, Fang Heyi mentioned at the earnings meeting that the bank will focus on restructuring, strengthening core advantages, emphasizing特色, and key areas.

On restructuring, Bank of China will continue to strengthen risk management concepts and strategies based on structure; on solidifying core advantages, it will further develop a new balance of volume and price supported by payment settlement and transaction services, solidifying the foundation for liability costs; on特色, it will leverage comprehensive financial services to amplify its competitive differentiation.

For key areas, the focus will be on several high-quality, market-strong, and high-value growth points. Capital market services, cross-border finance, investment trading capabilities, wealth management, risk mitigation, and debt collection will become important sources of incremental growth for the bank.

Retail contribution profit sharply declines

Fang Heyi stated at the earnings meeting that the bank’s main development framework is “corporate leading, retail steady contribution, capital markets increasing income, risk control creating value.” However, retail banking still faces challenges.

In 2025, among the bank’s three main segments, corporate banking net income was 91.93 billion yuan, up 2.18%; financial markets net income was 28.059 billion yuan, up 4.95%. The only segment to decline was retail banking, with net income of 74.843 billion yuan, down 8.53%, making it the only decreasing segment among the three.

Although retail banking remains a key strategic focus, since 2022, pre-tax profits from retail banking have declined for four consecutive years.

From 2021 to 2024, pre-tax profits were 22.704 billion, 17.380 billion, 15.935 billion, and 9.230 billion yuan, respectively.

In 2025, pre-tax profit from retail banking was 5.303 billion yuan, down 42.55% year-on-year, with its proportion of total profit dropping sharply from 34.6% in 2021 to 6.3%.

Currently, domestic commercial banks are undergoing structural adjustments in retail business. Credit card business, as a core segment, is also entering a phase of deep optimization. According to data disclosed by Bank of China for 2025, its credit card business shows a trend of “volume growth and quality adjustment.”

As of the end of 2025, the bank’s total credit card issuance reached 129 million cards, a 4.60% increase from the end of the previous year; however, the related credit card loan balance was 462.117 billion yuan, down 5.28% year-on-year, indicating an overall contraction in assets.

In terms of transactions, the total transaction volume of credit cards was 21.8 trillion yuan, down 10.66% year-on-year; corresponding credit card business income was 47.749 billion yuan, a 14.60% decline. Since 2023, the transaction volume and revenue from credit cards have been declining for three consecutive years, highlighting industry growth pressure and the need for business transformation.

Compared to the overall decline in non-performing loans, personal loan non-performing rates still warrant attention. In 2025, the personal loan non-performing rate rose from 1.25% to 1.32%, with personal consumer loan non-performing rate up 0.66 percentage points to 2.80%, and credit card non-performing rate at 2.62%, up 0.12 percentage points year-on-year.

Risk Director Jin Xinian said that since 2024, facing industry-wide retail risk trends, the bank has taken measures such as implementing joint prevention and control mechanisms and strengthening full-process credit management, continuously improving independent customer acquisition and risk control capabilities. The risk trend of key products is positive, and the bank is confident in quickly stabilizing retail asset quality.