Don't misinterpret Chongqing Bank! It breaks the "imbalance" controversy with strength

Produced by|China Central Visiting Network

Reviewed by|Li Xiaoyan

On March 24, Chongqing Bank released its 2025 annual report, delivering a standout answer sheet at the conclusion of the “14th Five-Year Plan”: its total asset scale achieved a historic breakthrough to 1.03 trillion yuan, up 20.67%; operating income was 15.113 billion yuan, up 10.48%; and attributable net profit was 5.654 billion yuan, up 10.49%, achieving the first double-digit growth in both revenue and net profit in nearly six years. Most notably, against the backdrop of industry-wide pressure from a narrowing interest rate spread, its net interest margin rebounded against the trend by 4 basis points to 1.39%, demonstrating strong operating resilience and risk control capability.

At a new starting point beyond the trillion-yuan scale, market attention on Chongqing Bank has shifted from scale breakthroughs to optimization of its structure. In response to discussions such as “imbalance between corporate and retail” “declining non-interest income” “pressure on the capital adequacy ratio,” and based on the fundamental positioning of a city commercial bank serving local economic development, together with the 2025 macroeconomic environment and regional development strategy, it is not hard to see that behind these seemingly “hidden concerns” are, in fact, strategic choices and proactive actions by Chongqing Bank as a leading local financial force. Its development path is more aligned with the needs of regional economic development and better meets the financing service demands of real-economy enterprises.

In 2025, Chongqing Bank’s corporate loan balance reached 409.867 billion yuan, up 30.95%, and its share of total loans rose to 77.46%, while retail loans saw a slight decline of 0.94%. This structural change is often interpreted as “imbalance,” but when you step away from regional positioning and talk only about structure proportions, it is easy to fall into an analytical misconception.

As a corporate bank headquartered in Chongqing, Chongqing Bank’s core mission is to precisely connect with regional development strategies and direct financial capital to the areas of the real economy that need it most. In 2025, its credit deployment tightly followed the construction of a modern industrial system, showing distinctive “targeted drip irrigation” characteristics: the balance of manufacturing and medium-to-long-term loans increased by more than 20% and 30% respectively; technology loan balances surged by 60%; and both green and inclusive loans achieved double-digit growth. These figures show that high growth in corporate business is not blind scale expansion, but high-quality deployment focused on future economic tracks such as advanced manufacturing, technological innovation, and green development.

This strategic focus aligns and resonates with the implementation of national strategies in Chongqing. The annual report shows that Chongqing Bank deeply serves the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin City Economic Circle and the Western Land-Sea New Corridor construction through a “specialized team” mechanism; the related financing balances increased year over year by 27% and 86% respectively, cumulatively supporting nearly 150 major projects. Relying on this layout, the bank’s deposit and loan incremental growth has ranked first among peers in Chongqing for two consecutive years. It was awarded the Chongqing Municipal People’s Government’s “Outstanding Unit for Comprehensive Contributions to Serving Chongqing’s High-Quality Development,” truly achieving a synchronized resonance between financial services and regional development.

At the same time, the “commercial banking + investment banking” synergy effect of Chongqing Bank continues to be released. In 2025, three key indicators—underwriting share, proportion, and number—of non-financial enterprise debt financing instruments all ranked first in Chongqing, making it a first for a regional financial institution in western China to take the lead. Through deep corporate business integration and expanded financing channel coordination using investment banking tools, it forms a closed loop of services for the real economy, providing full lifecycle financial support for enterprises. This is the core advantage that regional banks have over national banks.

In 2025, Chongqing Bank’s net interest income reached 12.459 billion yuan, up 22.44%, accounting for 82.44% of operating income, becoming the key support for performance growth. By contrast, net non-interest income declined by 24.24% year over year; revenue from agency wealth management business was nearly cut in half, triggering discussions about “income structure imbalance.” However, from the development logic of city commercial banks, the steady growth of interest income is a rational choice grounded in the bank’s own endowments.

Behind the rebound of the net interest margin against the trend is the effectiveness of Chongqing Bank’s refined management on the liability side. In 2025, its cost rate of interest-bearing liabilities fell sharply by 40 basis points year over year to 2.18%. Specifically, the cost rate of corporate deposits decreased by 43 basis points, and the cost rate of personal time deposits decreased by 42 basis points. In a low interest rate market cycle, achieving a reduction in liability costs by optimizing deposit structure and strengthening customer stickiness is more sustainable than blindly expanding non-interest businesses.

For local city commercial banks, wealth management transformation is not something that happens overnight. Against the backdrop of leading joint-stock banks occupying channel and customer advantages, Chongqing Bank chooses to deepen focus on core deposit-and-loan business, using “quality to increase efficiency,” rather than blindly following the trend of transformation. This positioning not only matches its own resource endowments, but also precisely meets the basic financing needs of enterprises in the region, achieving a deep linkage between financial services and the real economy. Data show that Chongqing Bank’s loan deployment contribution rate to regional economic growth continues to rise. In 2025, every 1 yuan of loans drove more than 3 yuan of regional output value growth, highlighting the responsibility of its core business.

At the end of 2025, Chongqing Bank’s core tier-one capital adequacy ratio was 8.53%, down 1.35 percentage points from the previous year, raising concerns about capital replenishment pressure. From a financial logic perspective, this is the stage pressure brought by rapid credit expansion, and it is also a capital constraint issue generally faced by city commercial banks. However, Chongqing Bank has already clarified its solution path.

On one hand, credit deployment focuses on high-return, low-risk areas. Loans to technology-based enterprises grew by 60%, green credit grew by 40%, and the increment in manufacturing loans hit a new high in nearly five years. These loans directed to “new quality productive forces” not only align with national policy directions, but will also continue to realize industrialized returns in the future, providing support for endogenous capital replenishment. On the other hand, multiple capital replenishment channels are open and running smoothly. The 13 billion yuan convertible bonds issued in 2022 were steadily progressing toward conversion. On March 24, Chongqing Expressway Group increased its holdings by converting and buying an additional 151 million A shares, reflecting the firm confidence of an important state-owned capital shareholder. Based on static calculations using annual report data, after all convertible bonds convert, the core tier-one capital adequacy ratio will be significantly improved, effectively easing capital pressure.

In addition, Chongqing Bank’s asset quality remains steady and sound. In 2025, its non-performing loan ratio was 1.14%, down 0.11 percentage points from the previous year; its allowance coverage ratio was 245.58%, indicating sufficient risk-resistance capability. Solid asset quality lays the foundation for capital replenishment, and also provides protection for the subsequent steady development of its business.

Entering the trillion-yuan club, Chongqing Bank has not lost itself to the inertia of scale expansion. Instead, it has always stayed committed to the positioning of “a main force of local finance,” exploring a high-quality development path with its own characteristics. In the face of a landscape where state-owned big banks are accelerating their penetration downward and peer competition is intensifying, it chooses to take root in Chongqing, deepen focus on the region, leverage the advantages of “geography + relationships,” and concentrate resources on industries and projects guided by national strategies.

This development approach does not ignore retail business. Rather, it is a rational trade-off based on industry cycles and the bank’s own endowments. In 2025, retail business faces industry-wide challenges. Chongqing Bank first prioritizes ensuring financing needs for the real economy; once the interest rate spread stabilizes and capital becomes sufficient, it will further optimize the retail business layout to achieve coordinated development between corporate and retail businesses. At the same time, it continues to strengthen compliance management, improving internal control mechanisms for potential risk points such as the “three checks” of loans, and fortifying its risk defense lines.

From “scale breakthrough” to “quality improvement,” Chongqing Bank’s transformation path is clearly visible. Its strategic focus in corporate business, precise efforts in managing interest rate spreads, and proactive actions for capital replenishment jointly form new growth momentum after achieving a trillion-yuan scale. As an important city commercial bank in western China, Chongqing Bank uses real actions to prove that high-quality development of local banks is not about blindly benchmarking the business structure of national banks. It is about staying rooted in its own positioning, serving local economic development, and fulfilling its responsibilities as its main business.

At a new development starting point, Chongqing Bank will continue to build on its trillion-yuan scale as a foundation, take high-quality development as the direction, and continuously deepen the responsibility of being “a main force of local finance.” By serving the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin City Economic Circle and supporting the development of new quality productive forces, it will achieve mutual prosperity and win-win outcomes between itself and the regional economy, writing a new chapter in city commercial banks’ services to the real economy.

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