After Consecutive Declines in Performance, Ping An Bank Vows to "Return to Growth"

Ask AI · Why are senior executives at Ping An Bank confident about returning to growth by 2026?

“The hardest times are behind us, and we aim to return to growth by 2026.” On March 23, during Ping An Bank’s 2025 annual performance release, senior executives stated this.

Difficulties are directly reflected in the performance. In 2025, Ping An Bank achieved operating income of 131.442 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 10.4%, and net profit of 42.633 billion yuan, down 4.2% year-on-year. The highly watched retail business still shows signs of “growing pains” from transformation, with several business indicators declining.

Regarding how to return to growth in 2026, Ping An Bank’s executives said that although last year’s bank revenue and profits still declined, efficiency indicators are improving, including optimized interest expenses and narrowing net interest margin decline. Meanwhile, the asset structure has also been optimized.

“Growing Pains” of Transformation: Revenue and Profit Both Decline

Ping An Bank’s revenue and profit have declined for two consecutive years.

In 2025, Ping An Bank achieved operating income of 131.442 billion yuan, down 10.4% year-on-year, with net interest income of 88.021 billion yuan, down 5.8%; non-interest net income was 43.421 billion yuan, down 18.5%.

In its 2025 annual report, Ping An Bank stated that the decline in operating income was mainly due to changes in market interest rates and adjustments in business structure. The decrease in net interest income was primarily affected by falling loan interest rates and structural adjustments, with a net interest margin of 1.78%, down 0.09 percentage points from 2024.

The decline in non-interest net income mainly stems from decreases in fee and commission income, as well as other non-interest income. In 2025, the bank’s fee and commission net income was 23.894 billion yuan, down 0.9% year-on-year, with credit card fee income at 12.393 billion yuan, down 5.9%, mainly due to a decline in credit card service fees; other fee and commission income was 4.05 billion yuan, down 14.9%, mainly due to a decrease in management fees from older wealth management products.

Other non-interest income declined by 33.0% year-on-year, mainly impacted by market fluctuations affecting bond investments and related activities.

Notably, Ping An Bank is known for retail banking, but its 2025 annual report also reveals some “chill” in this sector.

Ping An Bank 2025 Annual Report Snapshot

At the end of 2025, the bank’s personal loan balance was 1.727294 trillion yuan, down 2.3% from the previous year. Excluding an 8.9% increase in mortgage loans, consumer loans and commercial loans both declined compared to the end of 2024.

The bank’s credit card circulation also decreased from 46.9261 million accounts at the end of 2024 to 43.6931 million at the end of 2025, a 6.9% drop.

Auto finance loans showed signs of recovery. By the end of 2025, the auto finance loan balance was 304.801 billion yuan, up 3.7% from the previous year. Personal new energy vehicle loans issued during the year totaled 72.626 billion yuan, a 13.9% increase.

In wealth management, as of the end of 2025, the number of retail clients increased by 1.9% year-on-year, with retail client assets under management (AUM) approximately 4.2384 trillion yuan, up 1.1%. The number of wealth clients also grew by 2.4%, with private banking clients increasing by 9.1%, and their AUM rising by 0.8%.

This Year’s Goal: Return to Growth. Executives Say Retail Turning Point Has Arrived

Despite ongoing pains from transformation, Ping An Bank’s executives emphasize that they aim to return to growth in 2026.

During the March 23 performance briefing, Ping An Bank’s executives stated that over the past two years, the bank proactively adjusted its retail business structure, optimized risk policies, and reshaped growth momentum. After effective adjustments, the retail sector has emerged from its most difficult period, with a turning point already visible, including improvements in asset quality. In 2025, the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio for personal loans was 1.23%, down 0.16 percentage points from the end of the previous year. Loan scale also stabilized. Although the retail personal loan balance still declined by 2.3%, the decrease narrowed by 8.3 percentage points from 2024, indicating a near stabilization.

According to the briefing, the bank’s asset structure has been further optimized. In 2025, wealth management fee income increased by 15.8% year-on-year, with agency income from personal insurance up 53.3%. Over the past year, retail financial business revenue declined by 13.5%, but the decline was significantly less than in 2024. Retail financial net profit also increased from 289 million yuan in 2024 to 2.683 billion yuan.

“By 2026, Ping An Bank’s retail revenue and profits will further improve,” the executives said.

Notably, the bank’s net interest margin decline has slowed. The 2025 annual report shows a net interest margin of 1.78%, down 0.09 percentage points from 2024, a much slower decline compared to the 0.51 percentage point drop in 2024. The bank stated: “Given asset re-pricing and support for the real economy, we expect some downward pressure on net interest margin, but the rate of decline may slow.”

Regarding asset quality, at the end of 2025, the non-performing loan ratio was 1.05%, down 0.01 percentage points from the previous year. The full-year NPL formation rate was 1.63%, down 0.17 percentage points. The reserve coverage ratio was 220.88%, down 29.83 percentage points from the end of 2024.

Guoxin Securities’ research report noted that the overall performance was in line with expectations, maintaining a “Neutral” rating.

Beijing News Shell Finance Reporter: Pan Yichun

Editor: Wang Jinyu

Proofreader: Jia Ning