The largest dividend payout in history, with a total cash distribution of 21.2 billion! CITIC Bank's net profit in 2025 first exceeds 70 billion, but interest margin remains under pressure.

On the evening of March 20, China CITIC Bank (601998.SH/00998.HK) officially released its 2025 annual report. In a complex operating environment marked by mounting macroeconomic pressure and continued narrowing of industry net interest margins, the bank’s full-year performance remained steady and progressive. The bank’s net profit attributable to shareholders for the year first exceeded the 700-billion-yuan mark, total assets officially crossed the 10-trillion-yuan threshold, asset quality continued to improve, its non-interest income and retail business structure continued to improve, and it also rolled out what is described as the strongest cash dividend plan in its history.

Source of image: iStock/Vision Creative

According to the annual report data, in 2025 China CITIC Bank recorded operating income of 212.475 billion yuan, down 0.55% year over year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 70.618 billion yuan, up 2.98% year over year, with the scale of net profit remaining among the industry’s leading positions.

Source of image: Screenshot of China CITIC Bank’s 2025 annual report

According to a breakdown by The Times Finance, in the context of industry-wide profit pressures, China CITIC Bank’s ability to maintain positive growth in earnings mainly benefits from tighter cost management and a reduction in credit impairment provisions. In 2025, China CITIC Bank generated business and administrative fees of 67.159 billion yuan, down 3.24% year over year; credit and other asset impairment losses were 58.172 billion yuan, down 4.81% year over year. The impairment pressure eased somewhat, providing support for profit growth.

A historic breakthrough in scale is one of the highlights of this annual report. As of end-2025, China CITIC Bank’s total assets reached 10.13 trillion yuan, up 6.28% year over year, officially entering the “10-trillion-yuan-class bank” group. Judging from its asset-liability structure, the bank’s funding base remained stable. Total loans and advances stood at 5.86 trillion yuan, up 2.48%; total customer deposits were 6.05 trillion yuan, up 4.69%.

Regarding the development direction after China CITIC Bank entered the “10-trillion-yuan-class” tier, Tian Lihui, a professor of finance at Nankai University, told The Times Finance that for a joint-stock bank that has already crossed the 1-trillion-yuan threshold (i.e., 10-trillion-yuan level), its development logic must shift completely from “scale-driven” to “quality-driven.” In the future, the core task will no longer be asset expansion, but rather to build a solid moat in high value-added areas such as wealth management, investment banking, and financial technology, leveraging its nationwide network and comprehensive licenses to become a truly integrated financial services provider. “This means that what will be competed will no longer be the size of the balance sheet, but the depth of professional capabilities, customer experience, and return on capital (ROE).”

On the asset quality front, China CITIC Bank shows a structural divergence: improvements in corporate business and pressure on retail. As of end-2025, its non-performing loan ratio was 1.15%, down slightly by 0.01 percentage points from the prior year. However, the balance of non-performing loans increased by 0.731 billion yuan from the prior year, and the generation of non-performing loans is still continuing. At the same time, the provision coverage ratio was 203.61%, down 5.82 percentage points from the prior year, leaving a somewhat smaller risk-buffer space.

In terms of specific items, China CITIC Bank’s 2025 corporate loan non-performing ratio fell from 1.27% to 1.09%, with clear improvements in asset quality in areas such as manufacturing and leasing business. However, its personal loan non-performing ratio rose from 1.25% to 1.32%. Among them, the non-performing ratio for personal consumer loans rose by 0.66 percentage points year over year to 2.80%. The non-performing ratio for credit cards was 2.62%, up 0.12 percentage points year over year. As residents’ repayment capacity is affecting retail assets, the pressure has increased.

It is worth noting that in 2025 China CITIC Bank saw a broad decline in capital adequacy levels, increasing capital replenishment pressure. As of end-2025, the bank’s core tier-one capital adequacy ratio was 9.48%, its tier-one capital adequacy ratio was 10.90%, and its total capital adequacy ratio was 12.80%, down 0.24, 0.36, and 0.56 percentage points, respectively, compared with end of the previous year. While these figures still meet regulatory requirements, the bank may nevertheless face capital replenishment needs going forward.

Narrowing net interest margins are a common pressure facing the banking industry in 2025, and China CITIC Bank is no exception. The annual report shows that in 2025, the bank’s net interest margin was 1.63%, narrowing by 0.14 percentage points year over year; its net interest spread was 1.60%, narrowing by 0.11 percentage points year over year. In addition, due to the fact that the yield on earning assets declined by more than the decline in funding costs, the bank’s net interest income fell by 1.51% year over year in 2025, which may also be a direct reason for the slight decline in operating income.

Facing pressure caused by narrowing net interest margins, China CITIC Bank has been actively pushing forward in fee-based business, continuously optimizing its income structure, and non-interest income has become an important force supporting profitability. In 2025, China CITIC Bank achieved net non-interest income of 68.006 billion yuan, up 1.55% year over year, with its share of operating income rising to 32.0%. Of this, net fee and commission income was 32.772 billion yuan, up 5.58% year over year. Fees from wealth management businesses saw a sharp year-on-year increase of 45.17%. Meanwhile, fees from agency services, custody services, and settlement/clearing services all grew steadily; however, card-related fee income fell 10.26% year over year, and the stability of non-interest income still needs to be strengthened.

For shareholder returns, China CITIC Bank again set a new high in 2025. According to the 2025 profit distribution proposal disclosed in the annual report, China CITIC Bank plans to distribute cash dividends of 1.93 yuan for every 10 shares (including tax). The total annual cash dividend amount will be 10.74 billion yuan. Together with the cash dividends of 10.461 billion yuan already distributed in the interim period, total cash dividends for the full year will be 21.201 billion yuan, i.e., 3.81 yuan per 10 shares. Cash dividends account for 31.75% of net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders. Both the dividend amount and the dividend payout ratio refreshed historical records, making it highly attractive among joint-stock banks.

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