Total assets exceed 11 trillion yuan! Industrial Bank's performance doubles, with significant risk convergence in three major areas

Ask AI · How did risk management reforms drive down delinquency rates across three major areas?

On the evening of March 26, Industrial Bank released its 2025 annual performance report. For the full year, the bank recorded operating income of 8B yuan, up 0.24%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company was 212.74B yuan, up 0.34%, achieving double-digit positive growth in both revenue and net profit for two consecutive years.

By year-end, the bank’s total assets surpassed the 11 trillion yuan mark, reaching 11.109 trillion yuan, up 5.58% from the end of the previous year. Its loans and deposits continued to expand steadily, asset quality remained steady, with a non-performing loan ratio of 1.08% and sufficient risk coverage capacity.

Outperforming the industry benchmark

Both revenue and net profit increase

In 2025, the banking industry generally faced challenges such as margin compression and pressure on profit growth. Industrial Bank adhered to maintaining interest margins while also expanding non-interest business. For the full year, both operating income and net profit achieved positive growth. In his remarks as president, Chen Xinjian, Deputy Party Secretary and Vice Chairman and President of Industrial Bank, said: the bank’s performance was better than expected and, overall, it outperformed the broader market.

Specifically, the bank’s operating income reached 77.47B yuan, up 0.24%; net profit attributable to the parent was 110k yuan, up 0.34%.

As the revenue ballast, its net interest income continued to grow steadily. The bank reported net interest income of 110.9k yuan for the full year, up 0.44%, achieving positive growth for three consecutive years. The report states that the bank’s net interest margin fell from 2.36% to 1.71%, with the decline performing better than the industry average level. Net interest income overall remained on an upward trend. Income from peers and the financial markets rose year by year, making a prominent contribution to stabilizing the revenue base. Operating income and net profit both ranked among the top tier of joint-stock commercial banks.

The non-interest income segment became an important breakthrough for profit growth, with the income structure continuing to optimize and upgrade. For the full year, the bank’s net fee and commission income was 8B yuan, up 7.45% year over year, achieving a bottoming and rebound.

According to management’s interpretation, this growth mainly relied on the “commercial bank + investment bank” strategy, deepening group-level business synergy across “big investment banking, big asset management, and big wealth management.” It seized opportunities from a rebound in the capital markets, focused on core intermediary businesses such as wealth management, asset custody, and investment banking, and drove steady growth in fee income. At the same time, the bank’s cost-management performance was notable; the cost-to-income ratio was kept at 29.56%, and operating efficiency remained at a high level.

In returning value to shareholders, Industrial Bank increased its dividend payout. It plans to distribute 5.01 yuan in cash dividends per 10 shares (including tax), and together with an interim dividend, the total cash dividend per 10 shares for the full year will be 10.66 yuan. The cash dividend payout ratio首次突破 30%, and the total dividends over five years reached 106.9 billion yuan.

Non-performing loan reduction results stand out

New non-performing assets in corporate real estate dropped by more than 40%

In terms of asset size, as of end-2025, Industrial Bank’s total assets reached the 11.109 trillion yuan new level. Its scale remained firmly among the leading positions among joint-stock banks, with its business coverage and service capabilities continuing to improve.

Credit deployment maintained a reasonable pace. For the full year, the bank’s total loan balance was 5.95 trillion yuan, up 3.70% from the previous year. Credit resources were precisely tilted toward key areas such as green industries, technological innovation, and advanced manufacturing, with loan growth in those sectors far exceeding the bankwide average loan growth rate.

“We are determined to take the road of distinctive development and differentiated operations. Among the key points is to polish the ‘four business cards.’” said Lü Jiajin, Chairman of Industrial Bank. “During the ‘14th Five-Year Plan’ period, Industrial Bank has achieved good development by establishing green finance, a wealth-management bank, and an investment bank as three business cards. We have also gradually proposed to build technology finance into the fourth business card.”

On the liabilities side, the bank’s total deposits at year-end were 5.93 trillion yuan, up 7.18%, adding nearly 400 billion yuan compared with the beginning of the year. Among them, retail deposits exceeded 1.8 trillion yuan, and customer deposits became the core source of liabilities, effectively optimizing the liability structure.

In addition, the bank’s customer base continued to strengthen. The total number of retail customers surpassed 115 million, while corporate-finance customers reached 212.74B. The share of high-value customers increased steadily. The bank’s customer coverage and business stickiness continued to grow. Its capital levels remained sufficient, with the group’s core tier-one capital adequacy ratio at 9.70%, meeting regulatory requirements and the needs of business development.

In 2025, Industrial Bank comprehensively advanced reforms to its risk management institutional framework and mechanisms. It deepened the integration of risk and business, placing risk prevention prominently in its operations. Asset quality remained steady, controllable, and reliable. By year-end, the bank’s non-performing loan ratio was 1.08%, up slightly by 0.01 percentage points from the end of the previous year, maintaining an excellent level within the industry. The provision coverage ratio increased from 218.83% to 228.41%, and the loan loss reserve to loan ratio (provision-to-loan) was 2.47%.

At the bank’s 2025 annual performance briefing, Lü Jiajin said that last year Industrial Bank implemented risk management reforms, focusing on strengthening comprehensive risk management, clarifying the responsibilities of the “three lines of defense,” establishing an approval officer research and empowerment mechanism to promote deep integration of risk and business. In addition, the bank further improved compliance and internal control mechanisms and established a linkage and supervision mechanism for senior leadership regarding risks in key areas, among others.

A series of risk-control initiatives were implemented effectively, producing outstanding risk-mitigation results. According to information disclosed, the bank’s amount of non-performing asset generation decreased by 6.82% year over year last year. New non-performing items in corporate real estate decreased by 42% year over year for the full year. New non-performing items in local government financing platforms decreased by 31% year over year. New non-performing items on credit cards decreased by 13% year over year. Risks in key areas obviously narrowed.

“The ultimate purpose of all production and business activities is to create value. We must make it clear that we will build a value bank and strive for first-class performance. We also deeply understand that what investors expect is sustainable value-based returns. This requires us to establish the correct performance philosophy.” Lü Jiajin said.

He further proposed three points: first, to keep the big picture in mind and work to achieve an organic unity of economic benefits, social benefits, and environmental benefits; second, to stay close to customers and always commit to creating value for them—this is the source of wealth creation; third, to take a long-term perspective, uphold quality first, prioritize efficiency, pursue progress while maintaining stability, continuously improve the balance art between returns and risk capital, and keep promoting coordinated growth in scale, quality, and efficiency. The bank should adhere to long-termism and ride through economic cycles.

Regarding future planning, Lü Jiajin disclosed that in the next five years, Industrial Bank will take internationalization as the必由之路 to expand its space. It will treat internationalization as a major matter determining success or failure in survival and development, and position international business as an indispensable important function to serve customers. The bank aims that in the next two to three years, its international business will fully enter the first tier among joint-stock banks, opening new space for high-quality development.

Written and compiled: Nandu · Bay Finance & Media reporter Ma Qing