Seeking progress within stability, discovering excellence through innovation. China Construction Bank's 2025 performance in-depth analysis

March 27, 2026, China Construction Bank (SH:601939; HK:00939) released its 2025 annual performance results. Against the backdrop of ongoing pressure on the banking industry’s net interest margin and a complex, ever-changing operating environment, CCB delivered an impressive report: total group assets reached RMB 45.63 trillion, up 12.47%; net profit was RMB 339.79 billion, up 1.04%; the non-performing loan ratio was 1.31%, down 0.03 percentage points from the previous year, and asset quality remained stable and improved overall.

“Steady progress, and moving toward innovation and quality”—these eight words outline China Construction Bank’s operating trajectory in 2025. In 2025, marking the 71st anniversary of the founding of China Construction Bank and the 20th anniversary of its shareholding reform and listing, the whole bank, with “steady progress, and moving toward innovation and quality” as the main line, adhered to leading growth with an effective improvement in quality. Between serving national strategies and achieving its own high-quality development, it found a new balance and charted a new path for the sustainable development of a large bank.

Stable and sound coordination between scale and returns; a major bank demonstrates strong operational resilience

Turning to China Construction Bank’s 2025 annual report, a set of figures sketches the massive scale and solid foundation of a globally systemically important bank.

Total assets of RMB 45.63 trillion, up 12.47%; total liabilities of RMB 41.95 trillion, up 12.68%. While expanding in scale, China Construction Bank completed high-quality and high-efficiency capital replenishment. Net core tier-one capital reached RMB 3.46 trillion, up 9.46%, laying a solid “moat” of capital for future development.

Earnings power resilience stands out even more in a complex environment. Operating income for the full year was RMB 740.871 billion, up 1.69%; net profit was RMB 339.79 billion, up 1.04%. Against a backdrop in which the industry’s net interest margin has generally narrowed, CCB’s decline in net interest income narrowed quarter by quarter. The share of non-interest income increased by 3.65 percentage points. Net fee and commission income grew by 5.13%, making the income structure more balanced and diversified.

On asset quality, the non-performing loan ratio was 1.31%, and the provision coverage ratio was 233.15%, indicating sufficient risk coverage capacity. Core regulatory indicators remained industry-leading: average return on assets (ROA) of 0.79%, weighted average return on net assets (ROE) of 10.04%, net interest margin of 1.34%, capital adequacy ratio of 19.69%, core tier-one capital adequacy ratio of 14.63%, and cost-to-income ratio of 29.44%. International recognition continued to rise: for 12 consecutive years, it ranked second among the world’s top 1,000 banks in the UK magazine The Banker. Its MSCI ESG rating remained at the highest level of AAA.

With operating performance making steady progress, profitability staying stable, and asset quality remaining steady, its customer base continued to be consolidated. It served 12.73 million corporate clients and 785 million individual clients in full coverage; this vast customer network forms the foundation for business development.

In terms of returning investments to shareholders, China Construction Bank plans to pay a cash dividend for the end of 2025 of RMB 2.029 per 10 shares (inclusive of tax). Together with the interim dividend, the total cash dividend for the full year will be RMB 3.887 per 10 shares (inclusive of tax). The total dividend amount is approximately RMB 101.684 billion. The cash dividend payout ratio remains at 30%, demonstrating a continuously stable mechanism for shareholder returns.

In his chairman’s remarks in the annual report, Zhang Liangliang said: “We align with the strategic needs of economic and social development, directing financial resources more precisely toward the modern industrial system, new quality productive forces, and the ‘Five Major Articles’ of finance. We will serve the building of a strong domestic market and expand high-level opening-up more efficiently. The ‘construction’ strokes we draw are depicting a more vibrant and more sustainable economic landscape.”

Upholding the primary responsibility of serving the real economy; optimized credit structure enables high-quality development

Behind the growth in asset scale lies a profound adjustment in credit structure. China Construction Bank treats serving the real economy as its primary responsibility and proactively aligns with shifts in the economic and industrial structure.

The supply side delivers precise support for new quality productive forces. By the end of 2025, domestic corporate loans reached RMB 15.69 trillion, up 8.70%. Credit resources accelerated into the new quality productive forces sector: loans to manufacturing increased by 15.83%, and loans to strategic emerging industries rose as much as 23.46%. China Construction Bank has innovated and built service brands such as “ShanJian Smart Manufacturing” and “ShanJian Building Strong Foundations,” exploring model pathways for financial services to new quality productive forces.

On the demand side, multiple measures are used to activate domestic demand potential. Personal consumer loans increased by 29.41%, strongly supporting the recovery of consumption; loans to private-sector businesses increased by 12.17%. The balance of personal housing loans was RMB 5.99 trillion, and credit card loan balances were RMB 1.01 trillion. In key retail areas, it maintains a leading position in the market, effectively meeting residents’ reasonable housing needs and day-to-day consumption needs.

Regional and opening-up finance work in tandem. The system-wide share of loans in key regions such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Chengdu-Chongqing area increased. The growth rates of county-level deposits and loans were higher than the bank-wide average, reflecting the financial support for major national regional strategies. The ability to serve an open economy is also prominent: international business credit balances were RMB 1.45 trillion, and cross-border RMB settlement volume was RMB 6.50 trillion. Its UK RMB clearing bank maintains the position of the largest RMB clearing bank in Asia outside the region. Cross-border financial service capability continued to strengthen.

“Release credit resources through multiple channels, exerting efforts bilaterally from both the supply and demand sides, from both urban and rural areas, and from both within and outside the country, and fully support the recovery and sound momentum of the national economy.” The annual report states that it systematically and comprehensively improves the supply-side framework of comprehensive financial services, providing high-quality financial supply for economic and social development.

Deeply advancing the “Five Major Articles” of finance; strategic deployment takes hold and delivers results

Doing well on the Five Major Articles of finance—technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, retirement/elderly finance, and digital finance—is a key focus for serving the real economy. In 2025, China Construction Bank advanced across all five areas, speeding up the implementation of its strategic deployment and forming a favorable pattern of multi-point support and coordinated efforts, yielding tangible results.

Technology finance empowers innovative development. It created integrated service models such as “equity-loan-bond-guarantee-lease.” Technology loan balances reached RMB 5.25 trillion. It underwrote technology innovation bonds of RMB 71.984 billion, and cumulatively established 28 asset investment company (AIC) equity investment pilot fund(s), providing direct investment support for technological innovation.

Green finance supports the “dual carbon” goals. CCB built a diversified green finance ecosystem covering green credit, green bonds, green investments, and green financial leasing. Green loan balances reached RMB 6 trillion. During the year, it issued green finance bonds in both domestic and overseas markets equivalent to more than RMB 72 billion. At the same time, it promoted its own low-carbon operational transition. Carbon neutrality has been achieved for 75 office buildings, putting the concept of green development into practice through concrete actions.

Inclusive finance goes deep into small businesses and rural areas. It improved service models. Inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises had a balance of RMB 3.83 trillion, with 3.69 million lending customers. Agricultural-related loans had a balance of RMB 3.71 trillion, helping achieve comprehensive rural revitalization.

Retirement/elderly finance improves the service system. It enhanced the quality and effectiveness of services across the “three pillars” of pension finance. The asset management scale of Jianxin Pension Pillar 2 was RMB 723.335 billion. More than 250 pension-eligible products were available for sale under personal pensions, and support for the pension industry was increased.

Digital finance advances the “Artificial Intelligence +” initiative. Mobile banking and CCB Life “twin stars” users reached 546 million. There were 30.05 million active wallets for digital RMB personal users. Core-industry loans in the digital economy totaled RMB 891.926 billion. Technological innovation delivered remarkable results: AI large model(s) have cumulatively enabled 398 business scenario applications across the group.

Accelerate transformation and innovation of operating models; firmly uphold the baseline for risk prevention and steady development

Facing industry common challenges such as net interest margin narrowing and intensifying market competition, China Construction Bank proactively seeks change. It accelerates lightweight-asset, integrated, and intelligent/digital transformation to cultivate new growth engines. At the same time, it strictly guards the risk baseline, achieving coordinated development and security.

Accelerating lightweight-asset and lightweight-capital transformation. It speeds up the formation of new growth poles such as wealth management, investment banking asset management, and transaction banking. The wealth management strategy is being advanced faster: financial assets of individual customers under management surpassed RMB 2.3 trillion, and the number of wealth management customers increased by 8.03 million. The group’s asset management business scale reached RMB 6.94 trillion. The three-party custody business customers for securities customers’ trading settlement funds surpassed 100 million. Asset custody scale reached RMB 2.740 trillion.

Deep integration through collaboration across the integrated model. It advances integration of business investment banking, integration of private and public segments, integration across domestic and foreign currency, and integration across the group. Synergistic effects begin to show: commercial bank-type overseas institutions and integrated operating subsidiaries together realized net profit of RMB 21.488 billion, an increase of 19.65%.

Intelligent/digital transformation lays a stronger foundation. Based on achieving a full architecture transformation of the core business systems ahead of schedule, the total computing power scale of “China Construction Bank Cloud” increased by 12.10%. It built an end-to-end enterprise-level artificial intelligence technology system and deeply embedded it in areas including wealth management, inclusive finance, risk management, and technology R&D. Meanwhile, it also advanced the construction of an enterprise-level operating system, strengthened business deployment across all channels, and improved the quality and efficiency of intensive operations.

“We adhere to lean management to continuously deepen cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency enhancement.” The annual report shows that it will strengthen comprehensive cost management, focusing on five major cost categories: funding costs, operating costs, capital costs, credit costs, and tax costs, to drive benefits through refined management.

On risk prevention and control, CCB has always insisted on “preventing risks in development, and promoting high-quality development in risk prevention.” It has improved the risk governance framework of the “three lines of defense,” strengthened risk penetration management for overseas institutions and subsidiaries, and accelerated the construction of an intelligent risk control system. It addresses risks in key areas in a steady and orderly manner, optimizes the credit approval and management mechanism, and proactively prevents credit risk. For emerging risks such as online businesses, data security, and gambling and fraud-related activities, it re-examines business rule models, strengthens technology risk control and internal control compliance management, continuously builds the “Warm Consumer Protection” brand, and firmly holds the baseline of preventing systemic risk.

From moving from scale-driven to quality-and-benefit-led; from traditional credit business to comprehensive financial services, in a complex operating environment, China Construction Bank maintains strategic determination. It accelerates transformation and innovation, continuously optimizes its structure, and explores a new path for high-quality development of a large bank suited to China’s national conditions. 2026 is the first year of the “15th Five-Year Plan” (Period Fifteen) rollout. Standing at a new historical position, China Construction Bank states that it will fully implement and carry out the central government’s deployment, firmly establish and put into practice the correct views on operations, performance, and risk. It will unwaveringly follow the path of high-quality development with a focus on internal development, and lead the way and serve as a role model in advancing Chinese-style modernization.

This article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice

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