Author | Fangfang
Source | New Economic Observer Group
In September, the performance disclosure of domestic listed banks in the first half of 2025 is coming to an end. It is worth noting that in the first half of 2025, the rankings of four leading urban commercial banks changed drastically, and the performance differentiation among the strong has intensified. Among them, Jiangsu Bank developed rapidly, with total assets reaching 4.79 trillion yuan at the end of the first half of the year, surpassing the 4.75 trillion yuan of Bank of Beijing for the first time, becoming a well-deserved new leader in the field of China City Commercial Banks.
At the same time, Bank of Beijing, which once firmly ranked first in the city commercial sector, saw a decline in performance growth in the first half of the year, and various data have long been surpassed by Jiangsu Bank. As for Ningbo Bank, with its stable growth strategy, it continues to maintain a strong development momentum, surpassing Shanghai Bank in a number of data. Shanghai Bank, which is at the end of the four giants, has faced more pressure in recent years.
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Asset size PK: Jiangsu Bank doubles to top Shanghai Bank doubles to bottom
In the first half of 2025, the competition between leading urban commercial banks became increasingly fierce, especially at the level of total assets. Jiangsu Bank finally achieved a rebound against Bank of Beijing.
In the first half of the year, Jiangsu Bank's total assets reached 4.79 trillion yuan, an increase of 21.16% year-on-year, leading the way in total and growth rate; Beijing Bank's total assets amounted to 4.75 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.53% from the beginning of the year. The total and growth rate ranked second among the four companies. The asset size of the two banks was only 0.04 trillion yuan different, and the competition was very fierce.
In fact, in 2022, the asset scale of Jiangsu Bank was 2.98 trillion yuan, exceeding the 2.88 trillion yuan of Shanghai Bank in the same period, second only to Bank of Beijing. From the end of 2023 to the end of 2024, Jiangsu Bank's total assets expanded to 3.4 trillion yuan and 3.95 trillion yuan, gradually surpassing Bank of Beijing during its rapid growth.
However, although it is among the four major city commercial banks, the decline of Shanghai Bank is becoming increasingly obvious. At the end of the first half of the year, the asset scale was 3.29 trillion yuan, with a growth rate of only 2.08%. Both data are at the bottom, andThe gap with Jiangsu Bank reached 1.5 trillion yuan, which is equivalent to the gap of the entire Chengdu Bank (asset size of 1.37 trillion yuan).
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Performance PK: Four companies have double growth. Shanghai banks are under great pressure
In addition to catching up with total assets, Jiangsu Bank also surpassed Beijing Bank in terms of revenue, profit and net interest margin in the first half of the year, and firmly ranked first in urban commercial banks.
In the first half of 2025, Jiangsu Bank achieved revenue of 44.864 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.78%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 20.238 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.05%; while in the same period, Beijing Bank's operating income was 36.218 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.02%, achieving net profit attributable to shareholders of 15.053 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.12%, significantly lagging behind Jiangsu Bank in terms of absolute value and growth rate.
It is worth noting that in terms of revenue, Ningbo Bank achieved revenue of 37.16 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 7.91%, and its absolute value and growth rate were also higher than that of Bank of Beijing. At the same time, Ningbo Bank's revenue growth rate was also the highest among the four banks.
In comparison, Shanghai Bank is the only one of the four companies with revenue not exceeding 30 billion, with revenue of 27.344 billion yuan in the first half of 2025; but the year-on-year increase of 4.18%, which is also higher than that of Bank of Beijing.
Overall, in the first half of 2025, the four leading urban commercial banks achieved double growth in revenue and net profit. In terms of net profit growth rate, Jiangsu Bank grew by 8.05% and Ningbo Bank grew by 8.23%, performing well, while Ningbo Bank's net profit of 14.772 billion yuan was only 300 million yuan lower than that of Bank of Beijing. As this progresses, it is also a matter of time before surpassing Beijing Bank to become the second in the industry. Shanghai Bank's net profit was 13.231 billion yuan, a slight increase of 2.02% year-on-year.
In terms of net interest margin, Jiangsu Bank ranked first with a net interest margin of 1.78%, becoming the booster of the high growth myth; Ningbo Bank followed closely at 1.76%, and Beijing Bank’s net interest margin was 1.31%; Shanghai Bank was again at the bottom, at 1.15%, compared with 1.19% in the same period last year.
It should be pointed out that except for Bank of Beijing, the other three city commercial banks are all from the "Yangtze River Delta" region, and among them, Shanghai Bank has been the leader of the "Yangtze River Delta" for a long time due to its special status as a municipality. However, in recent years, the industry's performance fluctuates further, and both "left behind" in urban commercial banks and the Yangtze River Delta. In the first quarter of 2025, Shanghai Bank's total assets were surpassed by Ningbo Bank, and its revenue in the first half of the year was not as good as Nanjing Bank.
In the juncture of performance falling behind and business transformation, Shanghai Bank proposed the vision of "building a century-old store for a long-lasting foundation", but it has been frequently fined this year. As of now, it has been fined at least five times, with a total amount exceeding 36 million yuan.
In August, Shanghai Bank Hangzhou Branch was fined 3.8 million yuan by the Zhejiang Financial Regulatory Bureau for six illegal and irregular acts, including non-compliant performance evaluation behaviors and defects in asset pool business management.
In July, Shanghai Bank was warned by the central bank for violating account management regulations, violating liquidation management regulations, and violating anti-counterfeiting business management regulations, and imposing a fine of 28.748 million yuan.
In March, Shanghai Bank was fined 1.1 million yuan by the central bank for violating relevant financial statistics regulations; in February, Shanghai Bank Ningbo Branch was fined 500,000 yuan by the Ningbo Financial Regulatory Bureau for imprudent management of deposit business; in January, Shanghai Bank was fined 2 million yuan by the Shanghai Financial Regulatory Bureau for serious violations of prudent business rules in loan management and serious violations of prudent business rules in agency sales business.
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Asset quality PK: Overall performance is stable Ningbo Bank is eye-catching
Back to the asset quality level, the non-performing loan ratio of the four city commercial banks did not increase in the first half of the year, and Ningbo Bank was in the leading position with a non-performing loan ratio of 0.76%. Jiangsu Bank's non-performing loan ratio is 0.84%, down 0.05 percentage points from the beginning of the year, and asset quality shows a trend of continuous improvement.
In the same period, the non-performing loan ratio of Bank of Beijing fell by 0.01 percentage points compared with the beginning of the year, but the 1.30% ratio was the highest among the four companies. The non-performing loan rate of Shanghai Bank was the same as at the beginning of the year at 1.18%, but the fact that it was fined many times also reflects loopholes in internal control management.
In terms of provision coverage ratio, the provision coverage ratio of the four city commercial banks has decreased compared with the beginning of the year. However, the provision coverage ratios of Ningbo Bank and Jiangsu Bank both exceeded 300%, of which Ningbo Bank was as high as 374.16%, and Jiangsu Bank was 331.02%, showing that there is high constraints in risk management and asset quality control, and has become a solid chassis for stable asset performance and continuous growth in performance.
In comparison, the provision coverage ratio of Shanghai Bank and Beijing Bank is relatively low, with Shanghai Bank's provision coverage ratio of 243.64%. Although it is higher than 195.74% of Bank of Beijing, the former has dropped by 26.17 percentage points from the beginning of the year, making it the largest decline among the four banks.
Behind the performance of the non-performing loans is the different distribution of loans from each bank. But overall, all banks focus on corporate business, which shows that the current economic environment has a large demand for corporate financing and the banks' considerations for risk control.
Among them, the rapid growth of Jiangsu Bank is closely related to the expansion of corporate loans. As of the end of June 2025, the bank's corporate loan balance reached 1577.015 billion yuan, an increase of more than 300 billion yuan from the end of last year, accounting for nearly 70%. At the end of 2020, Jiangsu Bank's corporate loan balance was only 636.9 billion yuan, achieving double growth in more than four years.
But at the same time, Jiangsu Bank's personal loan balance was 695.527 billion yuan, an increase of only 20.7 billion yuan from the end of last year, far lower than that of public loans, accounting for only 30.6%, and the retail share was only higher than that of Shanghai Bank among the four banks. In addition, the balance of personal operating loans of Jiangsu Bank in the first half of the year was 62.558 billion yuan, down 3.1% from the end of the previous year; the balance of credit card was 34.808 billion yuan, down 7.5% from the end of the previous year, becoming the shortcoming of retail loans.
Look at Shanghai Bank again. Its non-performing rate is not low, but in the first half of the year, the proportion of personal loans and advances was only 27.11%, reaching 389.536 billion yuan, accounting for 30.60%, 30.89% and 31.99% of Jiangsu Bank, Beijing Bank and Ningbo Bank.
In terms of personal loans, Ningbo Bank accounts for the highest proportion of personal loans among the four companies. As the "retail pioneer" among urban commercial banks, Ningbo Bank's personal loan business has developed rapidly in recent years. In the first half of this year, Ningbo Bank's personal loan business continued to decline slightly while maintaining stability. As of the end of June, Ningbo Bank's personal loan balance was 535.31 billion yuan, down 4.02% from the beginning of the year, accounting for 31.99% of the total loans, down 5.8 percentage points from the beginning of the year.
The four banks also performed differently in terms of capital adequacy ratio.
Among them, Jiangsu Bank, which has led the performance in all aspects, has a core tier 1 capital adequacy ratio of only 8.49%, although it is higher than the 7.5% warning line required by regulatory requirements, ranking last among the four companies. During the same period, the bank's tier 1 capital adequacy ratio was 11.17%, and the capital adequacy ratio was 12.36%. The decline in capital adequacy ratio was due to the continuous expansion of Jiangsu Bank's asset scale in the first half of the year, which accelerated capital consumption. Jiangsu Bank stated that in the second half of the year, the bank will focus on promoting asset structure optimization, maintain stable profits and ensure that the capital adequacy ratio meets the standards and improves.
During the same period, the core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio of Bank of Beijing was 8.59%, and the bank's Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio was 12.08% and the capital adequacy ratio was 13.06%. Ningbo Bank's three indicators are 9.65%, 10.75% and 15.21% respectively; Shanghai Bank's are 10.78%, 11.67% and 14.62%.
According to data released by the State Administration for Financial Supervision, as of the end of the second quarter of 2025, the capital adequacy ratio, Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio and core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio of my country's commercial banks were 15.58%, 12.46%, and 10.93%, respectively.
In other words, although the three indicators of the above four leading urban commercial banks meet regulatory requirements, they are generally lower than the average of commercial banks, which means that while their business is expanding rapidly, they also need to expand their capital adequacy ratio through multiple channels.
Overall, in the face of the complex macroeconomic environment and increasingly strict regulatory requirements, city commercial banks still need to continuously optimize their business structure, strengthen risk management, and explore diversified revenue sources in order to be invincible in future competition. The successful experiences of Jiangsu Bank and Ningbo Bank also provide valuable reference for other banks, especially in the strategy of how to use local economic advantages to promote their own development.
*Statement: The New Economic Observer Group publishes this article for the purpose of conveying more information and does not constitute any suggestions. Original articles may not be reproduced without authorization.
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