Leading the growth among state-owned banks! Live coverage of the Bank of Communications earnings call: 12.3 billion yuan in technology investment, AI mentioned 30 times in the annual report

This article is sourced from: Times Weekly Author: Huang Yukun

On March 27, Bank of Communications released its 2025 annual report. Data shows that as of the end of 2025, the bank’s total assets exceeded 15.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.35% compared to the end of the previous year, with both operating income and net profit attributable to shareholders growing over 2%.

In addition to Bank of Communications, on the evening of March 27, three other state-owned banks, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Postal Savings Bank of China, and China Construction Bank, also released their 2025 annual performance. In horizontal comparisons, Bank of Communications outperformed the other three state-owned banks in both revenue and net profit growth rates.

While maintaining stable growth in performance, Bank of Communications is also continuing to increase its dividend level. According to the bank’s 2025 profit distribution plan, it plans to distribute 14.88 billion yuan in cash, and combined with the previously distributed interim dividends, the total dividend for 2025 will reach 28.692 billion yuan, with a cash dividend ratio of 32%.

At the performance press conference held that day, Zhang Baojiang, Vice Chairman and President of Bank of Communications, stated that the bank has always placed a high emphasis on investor returns. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, a total of 123.9 billion yuan has been distributed to all shareholders as cash dividends, with the dividend ratio maintained above 30% for 14 consecutive years.

“The total amount of dividends for Bank of Communications in 2025 increased by nearly 2% compared to 2024, mainly benefiting from our steady operational development and overall good performance, with continued positive growth in net profit leading to an increase in distributable profit. In 2026, we are confident that we will continue to reward shareholders with good performance and stable dividends,” Zhang Baojiang said.

                    Source: Bank of Communications Performance Briefing

Interest margin stabilizes, with a significant proportion of time deposits maturing in the first quarter

“Faced with continuously declining interest rates and insufficient effective demand, we adhere to a balanced approach of ‘volume, price, and risk,’ strengthen internal management, grasp external trending opportunities, and strive to respond to the uncertainty of the external environment with the certainty of our work. Throughout the year, net profit attributable to shareholders, net operating income, net interest income, and net commission income all achieved positive growth, maintaining a steady and upward trend,” Zhang Baojiang stated in the annual report address.

Specifically, in 2025, Bank of Communications achieved operating income of 265.071 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.02%; and net profit attributable to shareholders of 95.622 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.18%, equivalent to 262 million yuan per day.

From the revenue structure, in 2025, Bank of Communications’ net interest income was 173.075 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.91%; non-interest net income was 91.996 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.22%, of which net commission and fee income was 38.183 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.44%. Wealth management income from agency services and financial advisory performed well. The bank stated in its annual report that this was mainly due to its continued deepening of wealth management features, leading to increased income from financial advisory and fund distribution.

Currently, the banking industry still faces pressure on interest margins. In 2025, Bank of Communications’ net interest yield was 1.20%, down 7 basis points year-on-year. The bank stated that this was mainly due to a significant decline in yields on the asset side, where the customer loan yield dropped by 58 basis points year-on-year, impacted by factors such as the LPR reduction and fierce industry competition under weak supply and demand; at the same time, the overall downward shift in market interest rates led to a decrease of 25 basis points in securities investment yield.

Zhou Wanfeng, Executive Director and Vice President of Bank of Communications, stated at the performance meeting that since last year, the bank has made various efforts, and since the third quarter of last year, the interest margin has stabilized. With a large amount of time deposits maturing and being repriced, the cost of interest on deposits will significantly decrease. “From the situation of Bank of Communications, we see a noticeable increase in the amount of maturing time deposits this year compared to last year, with a significant proportion concentrated in the first quarter,” Zhou Wanfeng said.

Zhou Wanfeng stated that Bank of Communications will work from three aspects to maintain a stable and improving interest margin: first, to strictly manage the balance of deposit and loan volume and pricing; second, to implement refined pricing management for deposits and loans, strictly adhering to the requirements of the pricing self-discipline mechanism; third, to scientifically optimize the arrangement of the asset-liability structure.

Non-performing loan ratio “drops for 5 consecutive times,” reaching a near ten-year low

In terms of asset quality, as of the end of 2025, Bank of Communications’ non-performing loan balance was 116.983 billion yuan, an increase of 5.306 billion yuan compared to the end of the previous year, with a non-performing loan ratio of 1.28%, a decrease of 0.03 percentage points compared to the end of the previous year. The non-performing loan ratio has declined for five consecutive years, marking a near ten-year low.

Gu Bin, Vice President of Bank of Communications, bluntly stated at the performance meeting that the current pressure on the bank’s asset quality is relatively large in terms of retail loans and small business loans, with the increase in non-performing loans in 2025 mainly coming from these areas.

The annual report of Bank of Communications shows that due to the macroeconomic environment and the downturn in the real estate market, the overall asset quality of domestic banks’ retail loans is under pressure. As of the end of 2025, the non-performing loan ratio for personal loans was 1.58%, showing a slight increase compared to the end of the previous year, with the trend of change basically consistent with major peers.

Gu Bin indicated that this year, asset quality control still faces certain pressures: first, influenced by personal repayment capacity and declining market demand, it is expected that this year the asset quality of retail loans and small business loans will still be under pressure; second, the real estate market is still in a phase of bottoming out and stabilizing, and real estate risks will continue to be monitored; third, some industries face relatively homogeneous competition, leading to narrowed profit margins for enterprises and intensified operational differentiation. Bank of Communications will continue to pay attention to the operational conditions and subsequent risk changes of enterprises in these industries.

Regarding asset control measures for retail loan business in 2026, Gu Bin stated that the bank will further integrate internal resources and strengthen the risk control capabilities of retail business by coordinating credit policy formulation, access control, post-loan monitoring and investigation, overdue collection, and non-performing asset recovery and disposal, transforming “passive firefighting” into “active reinforcement.”

“This year we will carry out a special action for the improvement of retail asset quality in 2026, adhering to the three-pronged approach of ‘clearing silt, unblocking, and sealing leaks,’ and we have developed a series of measures to strive to quickly reverse the downward trend in retail loan asset quality,” Gu Bin emphasized.

Technology investment exceeds 10 billion for four consecutive years, significantly increasing “AI” content

In recent years, Bank of Communications has consistently maintained a large proportion of technology investment.

From 2022 to 2024, Bank of Communications’ investment in financial technology amounted to 11.631 billion yuan, 12.027 billion yuan, and 11.433 billion yuan, all maintaining above 10 billion.

The latest data shows that in 2025, Bank of Communications’ investment in financial technology was 12.342 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.81%, accounting for 5.78% of operating income, a year-on-year increase of 0.32 percentage points. As of the end of 2025, the bank had 9,782 financial technology personnel, an increase of 8.20% compared to the end of the previous year, accounting for 9.99% of the bank’s total employee count, an increase of 0.55 percentage points compared to the end of the previous year.

Reporters from Times Weekly noticed that compared to previous years, the frequency of mentions of “AI” and “artificial intelligence” in Bank of Communications’ 2025 annual report significantly increased, reaching 30 times, becoming one of the key words for the bank’s future development.

According to the annual report of Bank of Communications, the bank has implemented multiple AI application scenarios, such as adding AI product interpretation and AI-assisted generation of research and investment opinions in the wealth management system, meeting the personalized asset allocation needs of a wide range of clients; using AI and other technologies to achieve online and automated processing of consumer protection reviews, complaint management, and financial education; and launching intelligent assistants to apply AI agents in the corporate electronic banking channel, enhancing customer experience and service efficiency.

Qian Bin, Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Bank of Communications, introduced at the performance meeting that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the bank proposed to create a new business card for artificial intelligence, making AI the core direction of digital construction at Bank of Communications. In 2025, the bank further released the “AI+” action plan, further strengthening the foundation for AI development.

“In 2025, Bank of Communications’ technology investment was 12.3 billion yuan, with a significant proportion invested in the AI field. The bank’s intelligent computing scale grew by over 50% compared to the previous year, with over 2,500 AI intelligent assistants deployed, achieving significant results in retail inclusive finance, risk credit, and operational customer service scenarios,” Qian Bin stated. Looking to the future, the bank will resolutely focus on the application of artificial intelligence as an important breakthrough direction in the 15th Five-Year Plan, increasing resource investment, using new productive forces, reducing costs, improving quality, and enhancing efficiency to achieve high-quality development.