Insurance Funds Hold Over 1 Billion Shares! CITIC Bank's Dividend Yield Ranks Second Among Listed Banks, Board Secretary: Patient Capital Increases Positions Multiple Times

What are the strategic considerations behind AI · Patience Capital’s increased holdings?

Source: Times Weekly Author: Huang Yukun

“Last year, our net profit grew by 3%, ranking among the top in large and medium-sized banks. The dividend payout ratio was already high in 2024 and has been further increased, allowing shareholders to genuinely share the dividends of development.” On March 23, Fang Heying, Chairman of CITIC Bank, explained the highlights of last year’s development at the bank’s annual performance meeting.

On March 20, CITIC Bank released its 2025 annual report. Data shows that by the end of 2025, the bank’s total assets surpassed 10 trillion yuan. Despite a slight decline in revenue for the year, net profit attributable to the parent remained steadily growing.

Along with the annual report, CITIC Bank also announced its profit distribution plan. The notice states that CITIC Bank plans to distribute 10.74 billion yuan in dividends for 2025. Including the interim cash dividends of 10.461 billion yuan already paid, the total annual dividend reaches 21.201 billion yuan, accounting for 30.02% of net profit attributable to the parent, up 1.65 percentage points from 2024. The total cash dividend amount hit a record high.

Zhang Qing, Secretary of CITIC Bank’s Board of Directors, responded to the dividend issue at the performance meeting, saying that steady business performance has laid a solid foundation for continuous dividend increases. CITIC Bank attaches great importance to investor returns,坚持稳定连续的分红政策，并以实际行动回馈投资者的信任和支持。

On March 23, the overall A-share market experienced a significant correction, with many bank stocks falling more than 4%. Although CITIC Bank’s stock price also declined that day, the fluctuation was relatively smaller, closing down 1.13%. Wind data shows that based on the March 23 stock price, CITIC Bank’s dividend yield reached 4.84%, ranking second among listed banks in A-shares, only behind Ping An Bank.

Source: CITIC Bank 2025 Performance Briefing

Bond investment scale surges, retail business profit contribution declines for four consecutive years

The annual report shows that in 2025, CITIC Bank achieved operating income of 212.475 billion yuan, a decrease of 0.55% from the previous year; net profit attributable to the parent was 70.618 billion yuan, an increase of 2.98%.

Fang Heying, Chairman of CITIC Bank, stated in the annual report speech, “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the bank’s net profit achieved ‘500 billion,’ ‘600 billion,’ ‘700 billion’ in a ‘triple jump,’ making it one of the few joint-stock banks to achieve five consecutive years of positive growth.”

In terms of scale, CITIC Bank’s total assets at the end of 2025 exceeded 10 trillion yuan, reaching 10.13 trillion yuan, a 6.28% increase from the end of the previous year. Notably, bond investments were the main source of growth. As of the end of 2025, CITIC Bank’s bond investment scale was 2.24 trillion yuan, an increase of 332.114 billion yuan, or 17.43% from the end of the previous year. The bank attributed this mainly to increased investments in policy bank bonds and bonds of interbank and other financial institutions.

Regarding business structure, although retail banking remains a key strategic focus, since 2022, CITIC Bank’s pre-tax profit from retail banking has declined for four consecutive years.

From 2021 to 2024, pre-tax profits from retail banking were 22.704 billion yuan, 17.38 billion yuan, 15.935 billion yuan, and 9.23 billion yuan, respectively. In 2025, retail banking operating income was 79.367 billion yuan, accounting for 37.3% of total revenue; pre-tax profit was 5.303 billion yuan, down 42.55% year-on-year, with its proportion of total profit dropping from 34.6% in 2021 to 6.3%.

“Company shoulders the main responsibility, retail contributes steadily, financial markets increase income, risk control creates value—that’s our overall development pattern,” Fang Heying said at the performance meeting. Steady retail contribution does not mean lowering its status but rather giving it the responsibility to face challenges. CITIC Bank’s attitude toward retail development remains unchanged.

As an important part of commercial banking retail services, credit cards are undergoing deep adjustments. By the end of 2025, CITIC Bank had issued 129 million credit cards, a 4.60% increase from the previous year; credit card loan balance was 462.117 billion yuan, down 5.28%.

In 2025, CITIC Bank’s credit card transaction volume was 2.18 trillion yuan, down 10.66% year-on-year; credit card business income was 47.749 billion yuan, down 14.60%. Looking at the longer term, since 2023, CITIC Bank’s credit card transaction volume and business income have declined for three consecutive years.

In terms of asset quality, as of the end of 2025, CITIC Bank’s non-performing loan ratio was 1.15%, down 0.01 percentage points year-on-year. Non-performing loans on credit cards totaled 12.118 billion yuan, a decrease of 1.19 billion yuan from the previous year; the non-performing rate was 2.62%, up 0.12 percentage points from the previous year.

Gin Xinian, Vice President and Chief Risk Officer of CITIC Bank, stated at the performance meeting that credit card risk is currently stabilizing, which is a challenge but also a key to the bank’s next step in asset quality management. Overall, risks are controllable.

Wuzewei, a special researcher at Shangshang Bank, told Times Weekly that the continuous decline in bank credit card income is mainly due to residents’ reduced willingness to take on debt, changing consumption habits, and sluggish retail loan recovery. This contraction reflects cyclical industry challenges, such as decreased income leading to weaker repayment ability and a temporary rise in bad assets, further suppressing business expansion. In the long term, this business is expected to gradually recover with improved consumption environments, but it requires ongoing asset structure optimization and customer experience enhancement.

Wealth management continues to strengthen, with patience capital making significant new investments

The CITIC Bank annual report shows that under the focus on “big revenue,” the bank is exploring new business directions and tapping into growth potential. Non-interest net income reached 68.006 billion yuan, up 1.55% year-on-year, further increasing its proportion of total revenue to 32%. Among this, net fee and commission income was 32.772 billion yuan, up 5.58%.

In terms of structure, CITIC Bank’s agency business fee income in 2025 was 6.215 billion yuan, up 24.77%, mainly driven by good growth in fund, insurance, and trust sales; wealth management fee income was 6.135 billion yuan, up 45.17%, thanks to strengthened sales channels, improved product quality control, and enhanced customer investment experience, with both income and scale increasing.

As of the end of 2025, CITIC Bank’s retail wealth management product balance was 1.52 trillion yuan, an 8.60% increase from the previous year; non-monetary fund holdings reached 128.017 billion yuan, up 30.20%; agency insurance business scale was 24.572 billion yuan, up 24.69%.

Notably, Xinyin Wealth Management, CITIC Bank’s wholly owned wealth management subsidiary, ranks among the top in domestic wealth management subsidiaries in terms of management scale. By the end of 2025, its managed assets reached 2.30 trillion yuan, a 15.23% increase from the previous year. The residual scale of products with rights was 337.461 billion yuan, up 148.959 billion yuan, with the proportion of new products rising from 9.68% to 14.70%. In 2025, it generated investment income of 43.574 billion yuan, up 4.11%.

Under the background of rapid scale growth, in 2025, Xinyin Wealth Management achieved operating income of 4.408 billion yuan, up 9.37%, and net profit of 2.664 billion yuan, up 6.93%.

“Our wealth management and public non-monetary funds holdings, as well as insurance sales, are among the top in the industry,” Vice President Xie Zhibin said at the performance meeting. “In the coming period, CITIC Bank will continue to leverage the strong synergy and comprehensive professional system of CITIC Group, aiming to accurately grasp the expanding wealth market and the growing demand for diversified asset allocation, driving sustainable and high-quality wealth management development.”

Luo Feipeng, a researcher at China Post Savings Bank, told Times Weekly that currently, residents have substantial investable assets, and the potential for wealth management demand is huge. High-net-worth individuals are shifting from simple preservation and appreciation to comprehensive wealth planning, with more rational investment behaviors, providing banks with opportunities for differentiated services. However, competition in the wealth management market is fierce, with pressures from securities firms, insurance companies, and others, and banks face disadvantages in research, product innovation, and other areas. In a low-interest-rate environment with narrowing net interest margins, banks urgently need to transform wealth management to mitigate deposit outflows, but this transformation also involves organizational restructuring, resource integration, and cultural shifts.

Supported by strong performance, CITIC Bank’s total dividend payout for 2025 reached a new high.

“The market’s recognition of CITIC Bank’s high dividends, stable growth, and resilience is continuously increasing. Last year, patience capital’s investments in our bank and the amount of holdings doubled,” Zhang Qing said at the performance meeting.

The annual report shows that during the reporting period, two insurance products under China Life, one of CITIC Bank’s top ten shareholders, increased their holdings of the bank by 890 million and 104 million shares respectively, totaling approximately 995 million shares. By the end of 2025, China Life’s two products held a total of 1.016 billion CITIC Bank shares. China CITIC Financial Holdings, CITIC Bank’s largest shareholder, also increased its holdings by 295 million shares in 2025.

Zhang Qing further stated that CITIC Bank will continue to enhance its value creation capacity and actively pursue multi-layered market value management measures to improve valuation levels, with confidence in driving the bank’s value back to a higher level.