Author|Shenshui Finance and Economics Ni Dajiu
Like ordinary investors, banks can also make some financial investments, such as buying bonds or some asset management products.
However, as a financial institution, it is most important to ensure the safety of funds. Therefore, regulators usually set the asset classes and risk levels that they can invest in based on factors such as the bank's capital adequacy ratio, risk management level, and professional talent reserves.
For example, some small and medium-sized rural commercial banks are restricted from investing in bonds with lower credit ratings (such as AA and below), but if they illegally invest in such bonds in order to pursue higher returns, it constitutes "over-qualification investment."
Regulators have always paid close attention to this type of behavior. But recently, many banks have been punished for investing beyond their qualifications.
According to statistics, in the administrative penalty information of the official website of Jiangsu Financial Regulatory Bureau, four rural commercial banks have received fines for investing in asset management products or bonds beyond their qualifications.
Recently, the official website of Jiangsu Financial Regulatory Bureau released an administrative penalty information disclosure form, showing that Lishui Rural Commercial Bank was fined 400,000 yuan by Jiangsu Financial Regulatory Bureau for illegal acts of "investing asset management products and bonds".
At the same time, Jiang Changzheng (vice president of Lishui Rural Commercial Bank) and Shi Zhiming (vice president of Lishui Rural Commercial Bank at the time) were also warned and fined by the Jiangsu Financial Regulatory Bureau for the same illegal acts.
Among them, Jiang Changzheng was warned and fined 70,000 yuan, and Shi Zhiming was warned and fined 60,000 yuan.
Public information shows that Lishui Rural Commercial Bank was established on July 18, 2012. It is a joint-stock rural financial institution approved by the Jiangsu Banking Regulatory Bureau. It has 1 business department, 23 branches and 1 branch office.
public information shows that the current chairman of the bank is Shi Xiaobing, and the current president is Liu Ding.
The semi-annual report shows that in the first half of 2025, Lishui Rural Commercial Bank achieved revenue of 730 million yuan, net profit of 134 million yuan, and asset scale reached 38.512 billion yuan.
It is worth noting that Lishui Rural Commercial Bank's fine is not an isolated case. In 2025, many rural commercial banks in Jiangsu have received tickets for similar problems.
On March 11, Jiangsu Xinghua Rural Commercial Bank was fined 750,000 yuan by the Taizhou Financial Supervision Bureau for its illegal act of "investing bonds overqualified and inadequate repayment of written-off loans".
On March 19, Jiangsu Yizheng Rural Commercial Bank was fined 800,000 yuan by the Yangzhou Financial Supervision Bureau for its illegal act of "inadequate repayment of written-off loans and over-qualified investment in bonds."
On April 10, Jiangsu Taicang Rural Commercial Bank was fined 700,000 yuan by the Suzhou Financial Supervision Bureau for its illegal act of "incomplete separation of financial investment and proprietary investment risks and over-qualified investment in asset management products."
So, why is "over-qualified investment" becoming a high-incidence area for punishment?
In recent years, due to the difficulty of credit issuance and increasingly fierce competition, in order to expand more sources of income, rural commercial banks have become "active elements" in the bond market since last year, so the trend of "large banks lend and small banks buying bonds" is prevalent.
It is understood that in the first half of last year, the investment income of many rural commercial banks doubled compared with the same period last year, and investment income has become an important source of income.
But some rural commercial banks have over-incentive traders and manipulated prices, and other behaviors have also attracted regulatory attention.
(exclusively published by Shenshui Finance and Economics, a global market value research institution, please indicate the source for reprinting and citations)
