Bank of Communications' double growth in last year's performance: net interest income and non-interest income both increased

On March 27, Bank of Communications released its 2025 annual report. Last year, its operating revenue grew 2.02% year over year to 95.62B yuan; net profit attributable to shareholders grew 2.18% year over year to 956.22 billion yuan. By the end of last year, the bank’s total assets reached 15.5 trillion yuan, up 4.35% from the end of the previous year.

That day, Bank of Communications also announced a cash dividend of 1.684 yuan per 10 shares (inclusive of tax), totaling 155k yuan. Adding the already distributed 2025 interim dividends, total dividends for the full year were 3.24B yuan, and the cash dividend payout ratio was 32.3%.

Net Interest Income and Fee-Based Business Income Both Grow

The financial report shows that last year, Bank of Communications generated operating revenue and net profit of 1.27B yuan and 956 billion yuan, respectively, up 2.02% and 2.18% year over year.

The double growth in performance is inseparable from the double growth in net interest income and fee-based business income.

Last year, Bank of Communications’ net interest income was 867M yuan, increasing by 32.43 billion yuan year over year, with a growth rate of 1.91%. Its share in operating revenue was 65.29%.

According to the bank, its net interest margin last year was 1.20%, down 7 basis points year over year. Bank of Communications explained that this was mainly due to a larger decline in yields on the asset side. Affected by factors such as the LPR cut and intense industry competition driven by the weak demand-strong supply landscape, customers’ loan yields fell by 58 basis points year over year. Meanwhile, the overall downward shift in the market’s interest rate benchmark also led to a 25-basis-point decline in securities investment returns.

For fee-based business income, last year Bank of Communications recorded net fee and commission income of 381.83 billion yuan, up 12.69 billion yuan year over year, a growth rate of 3.44%, higher than the growth rate of net interest income.

Among them, wealth management income such as agency-type businesses and wealth management performed well, growing 10.17% and 16.98% year over year, respectively. Bank of Communications said this was mainly because it continued to deepen the development of wealth management with distinctive characteristics, continuously improving customer service capabilities, and increased income from wealth management products and fund distribution.

Other Non-Interest Income: Investment Gains and Fair Value Change Net Gains Total 252.95 Billion Yuan

In terms of other non-interest income, the net gains from investment and changes in fair value totaled 252.95 billion yuan, down 14.48% year over year. This was mainly affected by factors such as market interest rate fluctuations, leading to a year-over-year reduction in gains and losses related to bonds and interest rate derivative instruments. Net losses from foreign exchange and FX products were 8.67 billion yuan, reducing the loss by 44.08 billion yuan year over year, mainly due to lower costs from swap business.

Retail AUM Nearing 6 Trillion Yuan; Private Banking Client Count Up by More Than 10%

By business segment, as of the end of last year, Bank of Communications’ corporate loan balance was 60k yuan, up 8.57% from the end of the previous year. The total number of domestic corporate customers was 3.07 million households, up 7.92% from the end of the previous year.

In personal finance, as of the end of last year, the bank’s domestic retail customer count was 205 million accounts (including debit card and credit card customers), up 3.09% from the end of the previous year. Retail AUM totaled 5.98T yuan, up 8.91% from the end of the previous year. Of this, the number of private banking clients was 105.1k households, up 11.62%; private banking customer assets under management were 105.1k yuan, up 10.39%.

Nandu Bay Finance previously reported that Bank of Communications planned to apply to revoke its private banking franchise license for specialized institutions. The bank responded that it is implementing reforms to the retail segment’s systems and mechanisms and making related organizational-structure adjustments, and that related work is being advanced cautiously in strict accordance with prescribed procedures.

In fact, prior to this, the bank had already established a wealth management department at the head-office level to further strengthen its wealth-finance characteristics and improve customer service capabilities. Industry experts believe that setting private banking as a standalone unit may have higher brand recognition, but it may also involve issues of insufficient synergy—for example, it could be disconnected from traditional retail business, even leading to competing for customers and resources. Bank of Communications’ “return” in private banking is intended to connect customer resources, intensively manage capital, and revert to service as the foundation.

Worth noting is that in personal finance business, consumption loan business has become a focus area for retail banking because the state introduced fiscal interest subsidies last year. The financial report shows that in 2024, Bank of Communications had signed fiscal interest subsidy agreements with 1.4642 million customers, signed subsidized loans of 3.2101 million loan instances, and subsidized consumption amounts of 162.50 billion yuan. At the end of the reporting period, the balance of personal consumption loans was 3957.31 billion yuan, up 19.82% from the end of the previous year.

Nonperforming Loan Ratios: Corporate Loans Down, Personal Loans Up

Regarding asset quality, at the end of last year, Bank of Communications’ nonperforming loan ratio was 1.28%, down 3 basis points from the beginning of the year. In total, the bank disposed of 738 billion yuan of nonperforming loans during the year, up 10.8% year over year.

Among them, the nonperforming loan ratio for corporate loans was 1.19%, down 0.28 percentage points from the end of last year. The nonperforming loan ratio for personal loans was 1.58%, up 0.5 percentage points. Within personal loans, the nonperforming loan ratio for housing loans rose from 0.58% to 1.01%, for credit cards rose from 2.34% to 2.68%, and for personal business loans rose from 1.21% to 1.94%; the nonperforming loan ratio for personal consumption loans and other categories rose from 1.12% to 1.77%.

At the performance release conference on March 27 focusing on personal loan asset quality, Bank of Communications’ Vice President and Chief Information Officer Qian Bin responded that, in 2025, due to factors such as the macroeconomic environment and the downturn in the real estate market, the asset quality of retail loan assets for the banking industry faced significant downward pressure. Although the bank said the asset quality of consumption loans and business loans has been under pressure, overall risk remains controllable.

Qian Bin said that Bank of Communications will proactively respond to changes in retail credit risk trends and advance nonperforming loan disposal on multiple fronts. Among them, based on summarizing disposal experience and data, Bank of Communications clarified that it would comprehensively apply methods such as independent debt collection, litigation enforcement, bulk transfers, securitization of assets, and write-offs of bad debts, further accelerating the pace of retail nonperforming loan disposal.

Deploying AI Agent Assistants: More Than 2,500

For state-owned large banks, the financial “Five Major Articles” are battlefields that cannot be missed. How did Bank of Communications write its “Five Major Articles” last year?

The financial report shows that in terms of technology finance, Bank of Communications has established more than 100 technology sub-branches, including technology-focused characteristic sub-branches. The equity investment fund managed by its Financial Assets Investment Company (AIC) covers provinces located in 18 pilot cities. By the end of 2025, its technology loan balance was 1.58 trillion yuan, up 10.73% from the end of the previous year. Loans to “specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative” small and medium-sized enterprises and loans to science-and-technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises increased by 21.02% and 36.29%, respectively, from the end of the previous year.

In terms of green finance, at the end of last year, Bank of Communications’ domestic green loan balance was 16.25B yuan, up 14.16% from the end of the previous year.

In terms of inclusive finance, at the end of last year, Bank of Communications’ inclusive micro and small loans and loans to agriculture-related sectors were 15.8k yuan and 6.76B yuan, respectively, up 20.76% and 11.99% from the end of the previous year, respectively.

In terms of pension finance, the bank’s total loan balance for its pension industry was 67.62 billion yuan, up 49.12% from the end of the previous year. It offers 382 elder-friendly products and 241 personal pension products; it provides 174 pension insurance products with the maximum insured age of 70 years old and above.

In terms of digital finance, last year Bank of Communications established a digital-intelligence operations center to improve centralized and intensive efficiency. It deployed more than 2,500 AI agent assistants, covering scenarios such as precision retail and inclusive services, risk credit granting, operational customer service, and office R&D.

Byline: Liu Lanlan, reporter from Nandu Bay Finance and Society