"We insist on not exchanging short-term profit growth for risk deterioration or weakened risk resilience," stated Lu Wei, President of China Citic Bank Corporation Limited, at the bank's 2025 interim earnings conference on August 28, conveying the bank's commitment to maintaining operational standards through "anti-involution" practices. Just one day prior, China Citic Bank Corporation Limited officially disclosed its 2025 interim report, showing first-half operations characterized by "stable profit growth and narrowing revenue decline." The net interest margin stood at 1.63% and net interest spread at 1.6%, declining 0.14 and 0.11 percentage points year-over-year respectively, with both yield on interest-earning assets and cost of interest-bearing liabilities moving downward in tandem. Lu Wei noted that current "anti-involution" policies will regulate industry order, while the People's Bank of China's symmetric deposit-loan rate cuts will reduce liability costs, gradually stabilizing the banking sector's net interest margins.
On August 27, China Citic Bank Corporation Limited disclosed its 2025 interim report. In the first half, the bank achieved net profit attributable to shareholders of 36.478 billion yuan, up 2.78% year-over-year. Operating revenue reached 105.762 billion yuan, down 2.99% year-over-year, including net interest income of 71.201 billion yuan, down 1.94%, and non-interest income of 34.561 billion yuan, down 5.08%.
From a quarterly perspective, China Citic Bank Corporation Limited's second-quarter net profit attributable to shareholders grew 4.11% year-over-year, with growth accelerating 2.45 percentage points from the first quarter. Operating revenue declined 2.28% year-over-year, with the decline narrowing 1.44 percentage points from the first quarter.
Regarding interest spread indicators and asset-liability yield costs that reflect the bank's core profitability, the net interest margin was 1.63% during the reporting period, down 0.14 percentage points year-over-year, while the net interest spread was 1.6%, down 0.11 percentage points year-over-year. The yield on interest-earning assets was 3.33%, down 0.5 percentage points year-over-year, and the cost of interest-bearing liabilities was 1.73%, down 0.39 percentage points year-over-year.
Regarding performance, Lu Wei frankly stated that China Citic Bank Corporation Limited has abandoned its scale obsession. "We insist on not exchanging short-term profit growth for risk deterioration or weakened risk resilience. The quality and foundation of our earnings growth are more solid. In terms of scale, we have achieved reasonable and quality growth."
He mentioned that asset prices remain at low levels, and as existing high-yield assets gradually mature, this will continue to drive down banks' asset yields, creating ongoing pressure on interest spreads. However, "anti-involution" policies and interest-spread-neutral monetary policy will gradually stabilize the banking sector's net interest margins. Specifically, the "anti-involution" policies introduced this year help regulate orderly industry competition and guide banks to balance financial support for the real economy with maintaining their own healthy development. Meanwhile, the People's Bank of China has promoted symmetric deposit-loan rate cuts, further improving monetary policy transmission efficiency and helping banks reduce liability costs.
Senior industrial economics researcher Wang Jianhui noted that since this year, the People's Bank of China has promoted symmetric deposit-loan rate cuts, improving monetary policy transmission efficiency and helping banks reduce liability costs. In this context, the banking sector's net interest margins are expected to gradually stabilize.
As banks' "spearhead" business, retail banking has always been one of the most competitive areas. In recent years, "price wars" in consumer loans and agency sales, "benefits wars" in credit cards, and "channel wars" in customer acquisition have continued, combined with residents' increased sensitivity to savings rate changes and divergent investment preferences in the low interest rate environment, causing many banks to face challenges in retail business development.
As of the end of the reporting period, China Citic Bank Corporation Limited's retail assets under management (including market value) reached 4.99 trillion yuan, up 6.52% from year-end. During the reporting period, the bank's retail banking business achieved net operating income of 38.107 billion yuan, down 8.43% year-over-year.
Xie Zhibin, Vice President of China Citic Bank Corporation Limited, summarized three major changes in residents' asset allocation behavior amid the continued low interest rate environment and gradual capital market recovery: low-risk preference funds are accelerating migration from deposits to wealth management and insurance; medium-to-high risk customers are turning to "low drawdown, high win rate" strategies; allocation needs are upgrading from single product purchases to diversified asset allocation.
Xie Zhibin emphasized that China Citic Bank Corporation Limited will continue to strengthen investment research-driven asset organization capabilities. The wealth management business will advance the transformation of the "Steady Advantage" series toward "fixed income plus" strategies; the fund business will create comprehensive solutions targeting 3%-5% returns; the insurance business will focus on dividend transformation, increasing the proportion of medium-to-long-term dividend protection products; and the precious metals business will optimize the gold accumulation function to balance investment portfolio risks.
Meanwhile, the bank will deepen customer management system capabilities. Xie Zhibin stated that around corporate business integration, the bank will expand payroll, capital market, and corporate payment settlement scenarios to achieve batch customer acquisition. Following prudent and diversified allocation principles, the bank will customize investment solutions through digital means, upgrade global services for high-end customers, and rely on subsidiary CITIC Bank International to build an integrated domestic and overseas operating model.
Hu Gang, Vice President of China Citic Bank Corporation Limited, noted that going forward, for emerging industries with excess capacity but promising long-term demand, the bank will precisely grasp national policy directions and timely follow technological iteration trends; accurately assess industry development cycles and market patterns; and precisely identify customers' competitive advantages. In specific strategies, the bank will implement selective approaches: increasing support for enterprises with leading positions, technical strength, and integration capabilities, while orderly withdrawing from mid-tier or tail-end customers facing operational pressure and oversupply conditions.