Single-day sales exceed 2 billion yuan! The "downsizing race" during the policy window period: banks and consumer finance companies accelerate non-performing asset clearance in the first quarter, with "short aging" assets and "floor price" transactions appearing simultaneously.

By Every Daily Reporter | Liu Jiakui By Every Daily Editor | Zhang Yiming

On March 24, Xingye Consumer Finance put up two notices for the transfer of personal non-performing loans in one go at the Banking Credit Asset Registration and Transfer Center (hereinafter referred to as the “Silver Registration Center”). The total outstanding principal and interest for both cases exceeded 1 billion yuan each. The combined scale broke 2 billion yuan in total, involving more than 20,000 loans that have already been categorized as “loss.” That same day, the Silver Registration Center updated a total of 15 notices for the transfer of non-performing loans. In the list of sellers were also multiple nationwide banks, including Bank of China and Postal Savings Bank, as well as Ping An Bank.

Since the start of this year, the listing of large-asset packages has become the norm. Data show that from the beginning of the year to late March, the number of non-performing loan transfer notices published by the Silver Registration Center has already exceeded 370.

Policy window extended; market supply sees “structural growth”

The surge in market activity stems directly from a clear policy outlook. On December 29, 2025, the National Financial Regulatory Administration officially issued a notice extending the pilot term for the transfer of non-performing loans to December 31, 2026. This is the second extension of the pilot since it began in 2021, giving financial institutions a “peace of mind” for their medium- to long-term asset disposal strategies. At the same time, as an operating platform, the Silver Registration Center also introduced substantive measures to share benefits. Starting January 1, 2026, it would continue to temporarily waive the listing service fee for non-performing loan transfer business and offer an 80% discount on transaction service fees. This policy “combination of延期+降费” (extension plus fee reductions) significantly lowers compliance disposal costs and operational thresholds for financial institutions.

Warm policy signals quickly translated into market action. In early 2026, consumer finance companies became the most active suppliers in the market. In just January alone, leading institutions such as Zhaolian Consumer Finance, Bank of China Consumer Finance, and Ant Consumer Finance listed intensively at the Silver Registration Center. The cases involved a total outstanding principal and interest of more than 11 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 70% of the total market listings that month. Among them, Zhaolian Consumer Finance, on January 23, listed five tranches of consumer loan non-performing asset packages in one go, with a total outstanding principal and interest of about 6.27 billion yuan. For all asset packages, the weighted average days past due were all over 1,500 days. Ant Consumer Finance, meanwhile, listed two tranches of personal non-performing loans on January 29, totaling 2.37 billion yuan in outstanding principal and interest.

Entering March, Xingye Consumer Finance’s asset packages listed in a single day exceeding 2 billion yuan are only the recent peak. Previously, on March 4, China Post Consumer Finance listed personal consumer loan non-performing asset packages with total outstanding principal and interest of 919 million yuan. Longyin Five Eight Consumer Finance also集中挂牌 four tranches of projects on March 17, with combined outstanding principal and interest reaching 1.719 billion yuan.

Commercial banks also took action frequently. On March 11, China Construction Bank once listed 10 notices for the transfer of non-performing loans, involving multiple branches in Zhejiang, Henan, Jiangsu, and more. On March 20, the Tianjin branch of CITIC Bank listed a personal consumer loan non-performing asset package with total outstanding principal and interest of 112 million yuan. The Suzhou branch of Bank of Communications, the Beijing branch of Huaxia Bank, and others also rolled out non-performing asset transfer projects on the scale of several hundred million yuan in recent days.

A professional in non-performing asset disposal pointed out that consumer finance business has the characteristics of sinking customer bases, mainly being credit loans, and relatively shorter business cycles. During fluctuations in economic cycles, asset quality is more likely to come under pressure first. Accelerating the transfer of non-performing assets helps consumer finance companies quickly recoup funds, reduce provisioning pressure, and optimize financial statements—thereby creating room for expansion of subsequent business.

“Short credit/age of delinquency” assets and “deep-discount” prices highlight urgency of disposal

Different from the “bad debts” that were accumulated over a long time from earlier transfers, asset packages emerging in today’s market show a distinct “short credit-age/days past due” profile, reflecting the sellers’ urgent disposal needs. For example, a tranche of personal business loan non-performing asset package listed by the Guangdong branch of China Construction Bank in 2026 has a weighted average days past due of only 145.47 days

“Quickly stripping away assets with relatively short overdue time and that have not fully settled is an active risk-management behavior under the ‘cut losses’ mindset.” A professional from an urban commercial bank in the western region explained that behind this there may be two considerations: first, internal collection resources are limited; when delinquent accounts surge in the short term, batch transfers offer higher efficiency; second, the expected future cash recovery rate declines over time, so it is better to transfer earlier to lock in part of the recovery value and avoid further deterioration of asset quality.

The concentrated release of supply quickly shifted the market’s supply-demand relationship, causing transfer prices to face pressure across the board, leading to frequent “floor-price” sales. According to public information, a non-performing asset involving eight corporate customers, with a book value of 1.421 billion yuan, was eventually sold at a price of 310 million yuan to a related party, Jinyang Asset Management Co., Ltd., by Shanxi Merchants Bank. The discount rate was as low as 2.18 “折” (times discount). Market data show that the average discount rate for bulk transfers of personal non-performing loans has fallen and risen: it was 2 to 3 “折” at the beginning of the pilot. After fluctuations, it remained at about 4.1 “折” in the first quarter of 2025. Intense price competition places extremely high demands on the transferee’s valuation and pricing capability as well as cost control.

At the same time, requirements from sellers toward transferees have also become increasingly strict and more fine-grained. In multiple transfer notices, Longyin Five Eight Consumer Finance clearly states that the transferee must have a professional independent collection team, a sound complaint-handling mechanism, and a complete asset management system. The above-mentioned professional believes these clauses are intended to standardize disposal conduct after the transfer of assets, protect the legitimate rights and interests of financial consumers, and also serve as necessary measures for sellers to isolate risk and prevent reputation risk and legal risk arising from improper collection. Against the backdrop of increasingly stringent regulation on consumer rights protection, compliant disposal has become the lifeline for market participants.

From “sprinting” to “normal-course management,” the market faces three major challenges

With the pilot extension taking effect, industry participants generally expect that the market for the transfer of non-performing loans will gradually shift from the “sprint-style disposal” model caused by policy uncertainty at the end of 2025 to an operational stage of “normalized and market-oriented” practices. A research report from Guotai Junan Securities shows that in 2025 throughout the year, the Silver Registration Center’s non-performing loan transfer business announcements involved listed projects with a total outstanding principal and interest of 432.9 billion yuan, up 58.8% year over year. This indicates that non-performing asset transfers are becoming an important liquidity management and risk-resolution tool for financial institutions—especially those with a high proportion of retail business.

However, behind the rapid expansion of market size, challenges cannot be ignored. A professional in asset management summarized that the market currently mainly faces three major challenges.

First is the pricing challenge. Personal loan non-performing assets have a natural attribute of “small amounts, dispersed holdings, and lack of collateral,” making future cash recoveries highly uncertain and making precise valuation extremely difficult.

Second is the disposal challenge. After acquiring the assets, transferees mainly rely on their own collection efforts or those of third parties. Their ultimate returns depend highly on the collection team’s compliance, professionalism, and technical capability. Against the backdrop of increasingly stringent regulation on consumer rights protection, compliant disposal costs are continuously rising.

Third is the capital challenge. This mainly concerns sellers, especially small and medium-sized banks. As noted by this reporter, data from the National Financial Regulatory Administration show that as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, the capital adequacy ratios of urban commercial banks and rural commercial banks were 12.39% and 13.18%, respectively—both below the industry average; while their non-performing loan ratios were as high as 1.82% and 2.72%, respectively—significantly higher than the industry average. For them, disposing of non-performing loans is “stanching the bleeding,” while replenishing capital is “transfusing blood.” The two must be advanced simultaneously; otherwise, it will be difficult to escape the vicious cycle of “risk accumulation—capital erosion.”

“The healthy development of the market cannot happen without technological empowerment. Using big data, artificial intelligence, and other technologies to precisely classify, value, and price risk for massive creditor claims is the key to resolving information asymmetry and improving transaction efficiency.” The aforementioned professional believes.

He said that strengthening the ecosystem is also very important. It is necessary to cultivate more professional, compliant asset management service providers (AMCs) and collection institutions to form a multi-layer, professional disposal ecosystem, so that assets of different types and at different levels can all find suitable disposal outlets. Only in this way can the market for transferring personal loan non-performing assets maintain the bottom line of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of financial consumers while achieving effective risk clearance, and move forward steadily and far.

Cover image source: AIGC