Insight into Annual Reports | ICBC and CCB's personal loan balances exceeded 9 trillion yuan last year, while credit card business shrank

As of the end of March, more than half of the listed banks have disclosed their 2025 performance.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China—all six major banks—achieved both revenue and net profit growth. In total, they earned about 1.42 trillion yuan in net profit. Judging from the loan mix, many listed banks show a “rise in one and decline in the other” pattern in residential mortgage and consumer loans. While the scale of personal loans expands, the non-performing loan ratio also climbs accordingly.

On March 27, Li Jianjiang, vice president of China Construction Bank, said at a performance briefing that, based on the current operating trends, risk prevention and control in the retail sector will still be one of the key focuses of the work. Wang Jingwu, vice president of ICBC, also said that the bank will focus on resolving various risk hidden dangers and solidly carry out disposal of non-performing assets.

“Rise in one and decline in the other” in residential mortgages and consumer loans leads to shrinkage in credit card business

Under policy guidance to boost domestic demand and promote consumption, many listed banks’ personal loan structure in 2025 shows a “rise in one and decline in the other”: consumer loans and business loans move upward, while residential mortgage and credit card businesses weaken relatively.

Among the four major state-owned banks, ICBC and CCB both have personal loan balances exceeding 9 trillion yuan. ICBC’s personal loans increased by 44.916 billion yuan compared with the end of last year, up 0.5%. Of this, personal consumer loans increased by 77.819 billion yuan, up 18.5%, while personal operating loans increased by 252.238 billion yuan, up 15.0%.

CCB’s domestic personal loans and advances totaled 9.05 trillion yuan, up 177.902 billion yuan year over year, an increase of 2.01%. Of this, personal consumer loans were 683.174 billion yuan, up 155.279 billion yuan from the end of last year, an increase of 29.41%; personal operating loans were 1.32 trillion yuan, up 293.912 billion yuan, an increase of 28.77%.

CCB’s domestic personal loans and advances totaled 9.05 trillion yuan. Financial report screenshot

By contrast, CCB’s personal housing loans and credit card loans both declined to varying degrees—personal housing loans were 5.99 trillion yuan, down 196.530 billion yuan year over year, a decline of 3.18%; credit card loans were 1.01 trillion yuan, down 56.783 billion yuan, a decline of 5.33%.

As of the end of December 2025, Agricultural Bank of China’s personal loans increased by 448.464 billion yuan compared with the end of last year, up 5.1%. Of this, personal consumption loans (including credit card overdrafts) increased by 119.643 billion yuan from the end of last year, up 9.0%, while personal operating loans increased by 496.938 billion yuan from the end of last year, up 19.9%.

Agricultural Bank of China said this was mainly because the bank supports the “trade-in of old for new” program for consumer goods, advances consumption-loan fiscal interest subsidy work in a steady and orderly manner, and continuously increases the scale of consumer credit issuance; it also implements the financing coordination mechanism for small and micro enterprises, actively responds to financing needs from main owners of small businesses, self-employed business owners, and a broad group of farmers in rural areas. Bank of China’s 2025 domestic personal consumption loans also grew by 28%.

Unlike the “rise in one and decline in the other” pattern of residential mortgages and consumer loans seen in the four major banks, some joint-stock banks have exceptions. At the end of 2025, Ping An Bank’s personal loan balance was 1.727294 trillion yuan, down 2.3% from the end of last year. Of this, the balance of consumer loans decreased 2.5% year over year, while the balance of housing mortgage loans increased 8.9% year over year.

In addition, the credit card business balances of several leading listed banks shrank to different degrees. The credit card business at ICBC, Postal Savings Bank of China, and Industrial Bank saw decline rates exceeding 10%, and Ping An Bank’s credit card business also fell by 6.79%.

Non-performing loan ratio on personal loans increases; CCB says it will focus on controlling risks in the retail sector

While the scale of personal loans grows, the non-performing loan ratio on personal loans also rises in parallel.

At the end of 2025, ICBC’s personal non-performing loans were 142.337 billion yuan, an increase of 39.510 billion yuan, and the non-performing loan ratio was 1.58%, up 0.43 percentage points. Among them, the non-performing loan ratio on personal housing loans rose from 0.73% to 1.06%, and the non-performing loan ratio on personal consumer loans rose from 2.39% to 2.58%.

ICBC 2025 personal loan non-performing loan ratio increased by 0.43 percentage points. Financial report screenshot

CCB’s non-performing loan ratio on personal loans and advances rose from 0.98% last year to 1.19%. Bank of Communications’ non-performing loan ratio on personal loans rose from 1.08% last year to 1.58%. Among joint-stock banks, China Merchants Bank’s non-performing loan ratio on retail loans increased slightly by 0.1%, and Industrial Bank’s non-performing loan ratio on personal loans increased slightly by 0.03%.

In response to risk management issues, on March 27, CCB vice president Li Jianjiang said at the performance briefing that, faced with a rise in risks in the retail sector in recent years, the bank has been vigorously optimizing its retail business credit risk management mechanism, strengthening risk checks and balances at key points in the credit approval process, and advancing centralized risk control for retail credit. The bank said that multiple risk-control measures in 2025 have achieved results, with the year-over-year narrowing in the increase in the non-performing ratio for personal loans.

Li Jianjiang said, “Based on the current operating trends, risk prevention and control in the retail sector will still be one of the key focuses of the work.”

Wang Jingwu, vice president of ICBC, also said that ICBC’s asset quality for personal loan business has always been relatively strong, but over the past two years, due to multiple factors including economic transition growth, adjustments in the real estate market, and periods of imbalance between supply and demand, the non-performing loan ratio entered an upward channel in the short term, which is basically consistent with the trend across the whole industry.

“The fundamentals of China’s economy are solid, and its resilience is strong, with great potential. The supportive conditions and basic trend toward a long-term favorable outlook have not changed. In the future, the risk of personal loans will be controllable.” Wang Jingwu said that as a package of policies accelerates implementation and policy dividends continue to be released, the foundation of the personal credit market will gradually improve, and the asset quality of personal loans will return to a reasonable level.

Wang Jingwu said that to cope with changes in the market, ICBC has already made corresponding adjustments in its internal structure and functions in advance. It established a Personal Credit Business Department to achieve more intensive and specialized personal loan business and further improve operating standards. At the same time, it strengthens data-and-intelligence empowerment, enriches product innovation supply in the personal consumption and operations areas, coordinates and balances development with security, focuses on resolving various risk hidden dangers, and solidly handles disposal of non-performing assets.

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责任编辑：曹睿潼