According to official information from the China Banking Association, the association recently formally released the "Top 100 Chinese Banks List for 2025". Based on regulatory requirements for commercial bank capital measurement, the list ranks commercial banks by their net core tier 1 capital and provides a comprehensive display of each bank's operating scale, profitability, operational efficiency, and asset quality.
Capital serves as the "principal" for financial institutions' operations, forming the foundation for enhancing their ability to serve the real economy and acting as a barrier against risks. Core tier 1 capital primarily includes paid-in capital or common stock, capital reserves, surplus reserves, general risk provisions, retained earnings, accumulated other comprehensive income, and the portion of minority shareholder capital that can be included. It represents instruments that banks can unconditionally use to absorb losses under going-concern conditions. Having higher core tier 1 capital can effectively enhance banks' operational stability and risk resistance capabilities.
Under the guidance of the policy decisions and arrangements of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China regarding further comprehensive deepening of reform and advancing Chinese-style modernization, China's banking industry continues to deepen reform and opening-up, achieving significant results in risk prevention and control in key areas. As of the end of 2024, the 100 banks on the list had a combined net core tier 1 capital of 23.37 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.75 trillion yuan from the previous year, representing a year-on-year growth of 8.10% and accounting for 95.09% of the total commercial banking sector, up 0.28 percentage points from the previous year. Their total assets reached 342.15 trillion yuan, an increase of 23.63 trillion yuan from the previous year, representing a year-on-year growth of 7.42% and accounting for 89.92% of the total commercial banking sector, up 0.15 percentage points from the previous year. The average cost-to-income ratio decreased to 35.41%, down 0.58 percentage points year-on-year, showing continued improvement in operational efficiency. The average non-performing loan ratio remained stable, demonstrating significant achievements in risk prevention and control.
By institutional type, the 100 banks on the list include 6 large commercial banks, 12 national joint-stock commercial banks, 56 city commercial banks, 18 rural commercial banks, 2 private banks, and 6 foreign-funded legal entity banks. Their net core tier 1 capital accounts for 57.80%, 23.39%, 13.58%, 4.08%, 0.34%, and 0.81% of the 100 representative banks, respectively. By bank headquarters location, Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Shandong have the most banks, with 14, 11, 10, 10, and 7 banks respectively. Their combined net core tier 1 capital reaches 20.20 trillion yuan, accounting for 86.46% of the 100 representative banks.
The competitiveness of national commercial banks has been further enhanced. The 6 large commercial banks have net core tier 1 capital of 13.51 trillion yuan and combined total assets of 199.68 trillion yuan, with stable asset quality. The 12 national joint-stock banks have developed steadily, with net core tier 1 capital growing 8.55% to 5.46 trillion yuan and the average non-performing loan ratio improving to 1.34%, demonstrating strong operational resilience. The 18 national commercial banks' net core tier 1 capital and asset scale account for 81.18% and 80.84% of the 100 representative banks, respectively.
Small and medium-sized banks continue to enhance competitiveness through reform, risk resolution, and market-oriented restructuring. The 56 city commercial banks and 18 rural commercial banks saw their net core tier 1 capital grow 9.53% and 9.67% year-on-year, respectively. Meanwhile, leading private banks have maintained good development momentum, leveraging fintech advantages to achieve business expansion and demonstrating the innovative vitality of digital finance. Foreign banks have maintained stable development, with 6 major foreign-funded legal entity banks having combined net core tier 1 capital of 190.223 billion yuan, up 5.72% year-on-year, and total assets of 1.60 trillion yuan, up 3.78% year-on-year.
2025 marks the final year of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the planning year for the "15th Five-Year Plan." As unprecedented changes accelerate globally, commercial banks face multiple challenges including external environmental uncertainties, pressure from old and new growth driver transitions, and low interest rate operating environments. At the same time, Chinese-style modernization continues to advance steadily, and the long-term positive trend of economic development remains unchanged. New trends such as digitalization and intelligence leading industrial transformation and increasingly diversified wealth management needs among residents will bring new opportunities for banking industry reform and development.