The competition between Bank of Jiangsu and Bank of Ningbo has reached a decisive phase in 2025, with key financial metrics revealing a clear gap between the two city commercial banks.

**Scale Battle: Bank of Jiangsu's Aggressive Expansion** Bank of Jiangsu's total assets surged to 4.93 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, nearing the 5 trillion yuan milestone, with a staggering 27.8% year-on-year growth. In contrast, Bank of Ningbo's assets grew by 16.6% to 3.58 trillion yuan, lagging significantly behind. The 1.35 trillion yuan gap between them is roughly equivalent to the total assets of Bank of Hangzhou.

**Profitability: Volume Over Speed** While both banks reported similar net profit growth rates (8.9% for Bank of Jiangsu vs. 8.7% for Bank of Ningbo), Bank of Jiangsu's absolute profit of 31.9 billion yuan dwarfed Bank of Ningbo's 22.58 billion yuan. Bank of Jiangsu's net interest income grew 19.6% to 49.87 billion yuan, compared to Bank of Ningbo's 11.8% growth. However, Bank of Ningbo outperformed in intermediary business income (wealth management, investment banking), which rose 29.3% to 4.85 billion yuan.

**Profit Growth: Quality vs. Quantity** Bank of Jiangsu demonstrated superior profitability metrics: - Net interest income growth: 19.61% vs. 11.83% - Annualized ROE: 15.87% vs. 10.36% The bank benefited from Jiangsu province's robust economy (GDP exceeding 10 trillion yuan and leading national manufacturing value-added), with corporate loans growing 26.27%.

Bank of Ningbo's growth appeared less sustainable: - Reliant on asset expansion rather than efficiency (total assets grew 14.5%) - Non-interest income grew only 0.3%, with fee-based income offset by bond market volatility - ROE declined 0.7 percentage points from 2024

**Asset Quality: Stability vs. Risk** Bank of Jiangsu showed improving metrics: - NPL ratio: 0.84% (down 0.05 bps) - Special mention loans: 1.28% (down 0.12 bps) - Provision coverage: 322.62%

Bank of Ningbo, while maintaining a lower NPL ratio (0.76%), faced challenges: - Retail NPL ratio rose to 2.13% - Credit impairment losses grew 16.2%, potentially reducing real profit growth to 6.5% - High concentration in SME loans (over 60%) makes it vulnerable to export fluctuations

**Business Structure: Diversification vs. Concentration** Bank of Jiangsu diversified across sectors: - Corporate: Focused on specialized tech firms (tech loans up 22.8%) - Retail: Wealth management AUM surpassed 1.6 trillion yuan - Green finance: Green loans grew 26.7%

Bank of Ningbo remained dependent on SME loans (over 50% of portfolio), with weak retail growth and limited progress in high-value businesses like investment banking.

**Market Outlook** Analysts favor Bank of Jiangsu with 14 "buy" ratings and average target price of 13.37 yuan, forecasting 2025 net profit of 34.68 billion yuan (+8.91%). Bank of Ningbo received only 8 neutral ratings, with lower growth projections and capital constraints (CET1 ratio of 10.23% vs. Bank of Jiangsu's 11.07%).

**Conclusion** In 2025's challenging banking environment (compressed net interest margins and asset quality divergence), Bank of Jiangsu has solidified its leadership through corporate expertise, retail transformation, and risk control. Bank of Ningbo, despite marginal leads in top-line growth, faces structural challenges in business diversification, funding costs, and new business development. Unless it addresses these weaknesses, the gap with Bank of Jiangsu may continue to widen.