Zhengzhou Bank's 2025 'Law of Balance': Resilience Amid Stability, with Simultaneous Growth in Scale and Quality

Riding the tailwinds of regional development, Zhengzhou Bank entered a 'spotlight moment' across multiple metrics in 2025.

According to annual report data, after surpassing the RMB 700 billion asset threshold in Q1 2025, Zhengzhou Bank maintained steady growth over the next three quarters. By year-end, its total assets reached RMB 743.674 billion, up 9.95% year-over-year—the fastest pace since 2018—demonstrating sustained scale expansion. Total loans amounted to RMB 410.264 billion, an increase of 5.82%, reflecting a more proactive credit deployment stance. Full-year operating revenue came in at RMB 12.921 billion, up 0.34% year-over-year, while net profit reached RMB 1.909 billion, rising 2.44% year-over-year—significantly outpacing revenue growth. Meanwhile, the non-performing loan ratio has declined steadily for three consecutive years, reinforcing the bank’s risk resilience.

This success stems from Zhengzhou Bank’s steadfast commitment to its market positioning of 'serving the local economy, small and medium-sized enterprises, and urban and rural residents,' as well as its long-term vision of 'advancing reform and innovation with greater intensity, optimizing service offerings through more concrete measures, and strengthening risk controls under stricter standards.' Between stable growth and self-renewal, business expansion and precise empowerment, and scale growth and risk management, Zhengzhou Bank has forged robust internal resilience.

On this foundation, the bank has deeply integrated its 'Five Key Strategic Initiatives' into regional development, achieving an organic unity between serving the local economy and enhancing its own value. Now, standing at the outset of the '15th Five-Year Plan' period, Zhengzhou Bank is charging ahead toward becoming a top-tier city commercial bank.

Simultaneously optimizing scale, profitability, and risk to strengthen operational resilience

Asset size is the most direct indicator for assessing a bank’s market influence and developmental stability.

In 2025, Zhengzhou Bank once again surpassed the trillion-yuan threshold, with total assets reaching RMB 743.674 billion by year-end—an increase of 9.95% year-over-year, marking the highest growth rate since 2018. Meanwhile, guided by its goals of supporting the real economy and boosting household consumption, the bank’s total loans rose to RMB 410.264 billion, up 5.82%.

Amid this expansion in scale, asset structure remained well-balanced. In 2025, both corporate and personal loans at Zhengzhou Bank grew simultaneously, accounting for 68.37% and 23.65% of total loans, respectively—further optimizing the loan portfolio. Corporate loans reached RMB 280.5 billion, up 4.30% year-over-year, while personal loans totaled RMB 97.014 billion, rising 6.66%. Notably, personal business and consumer loans showed strong momentum: personal consumer loans reached RMB 20.727 billion, surpassing the RMB 20 billion mark for the first time, with growth of 20.9%.

While strengthening its core lending business, the bank continued to refine its investment portfolio. As of the reporting date, Zhengzhou Bank’s total financial assets amounted to RMB 235.041 billion, up 16.21%. Bond investments totaled RMB 181.639 billion, a 27.00% year-over-year increase, steadily raising the share of standardized assets. Meanwhile, non-standard assets—including trust plans and securities firm asset management products—stood at RMB 53.402 billion, down 9.84% year-over-year. This strategic rebalancing—increasing one category while reducing another—has led to a more resilient asset allocation and an ongoing improvement in risk structure.

Benefiting from diversified growth across business segments, Zhengzhou Bank achieved a more balanced revenue mix. Net interest income—the cornerstone of profitability—reached RMB 10.864 billion in 2025, up 4.82% year-over-year, accounting for 84.08% of total operating revenue and providing a solid, reliable foundation for stable operations. Investment income also performed robustly at RMB 1.923 billion, further diversifying earnings sources and enhancing profit elasticity.

While sustaining revenue growth, the bank significantly enhanced its operational efficiency through refined management. Business and administrative expenses decreased by RMB 1.54 billion, or 4.14% year-over-year, lowering the cost-to-income ratio to 27.67%. This dual focus on cost control and performance improvement enabled net profit growth (2.44%) to substantially outpace revenue growth (0.34%), achieving tangible cost reduction and efficiency gains.

Even amid rapid scale expansion, Zhengzhou Bank maintained strong risk controls. The bank continuously strengthened credit risk management and accelerated the disposal of non-performing assets, keeping overall loan quality within manageable levels. As of the reporting date, the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio stood at 1.71%, down 0.08 percentage points from the end of the previous year and 0.17 percentage points lower than at the end of 2022—marking three consecutive years of decline. Liquidity metrics also remained sound: the liquidity ratio was 94.27%, the liquidity coverage ratio reached 226.73%, and the net stable funding ratio stood at 123.16%. All key liquidity indicators met regulatory requirements, confirming that liquidity risk remains well-contained.

In summary, Zhengzhou Bank delivered a 2025 performance marked by simultaneous improvements across scale, profitability, and asset quality: steady growth in asset size, dual increases in revenue and net profit, continuous enhancement in asset quality, and significant progress in cost reduction and efficiency gains—demonstrating strong operational resilience.

Aligning its 'Five Key Initiatives' with regional development priorities to serve as the leading financial force for local economic growth

Steady and robust growth in scale stems from precise strategic positioning. Standing at the new starting point of the '15th Five-Year Plan' period, Zhengzhou Bank adheres to its identity as a city commercial bank deeply rooted in local markets, proactively integrates into regional development priorities, closely aligns with its strategic blueprint, and focuses on serving the real economy and public welfare. With the 'five key initiatives' and investment banking innovation as dual engines, the bank injects 'Zhengzhou Bank strength' into local development.

On one hand, Zhengzhou Bank remains firmly positioned as a leading local financial institution, supporting high-quality regional development. Through comprehensive implementation of the 'five key initiatives' in finance, the bank tightly aligns with the province's '1+2+4+N' goal framework and deeply integrates high-quality financial services into Henan's broader strategy of building 'Six Strong Provinces.'

Specifically, in technology finance, Zhengzhou Bank has established seven specialized tech branches and strengthened collaboration with provincial research institutions, practicing the philosophy of 'investing early, investing in small enterprises, investing for the long term, and investing in hard technologies.' By the end of 2025, its outstanding tech loans reached RMB 33.237 billion, up 25.57% from the beginning of the year. In green finance, the bank launched its first two green-specialized branches, created dedicated green approval channels, and allocated exclusive credit quotas to steer resources toward green and low-carbon sectors. In inclusive finance, it accelerated the development of a full-lifecycle, multi-scenario integrated product system for inclusive lending, continuously enhancing accessibility and convenience; by end-2025, outstanding inclusive micro and small enterprise loans totaled RMB 57.326 billion, up 6.78% year-to-date. In pension finance, the bank actively supports enterprises across the elderly care value chain—including elderly care infrastructure and senior healthcare services—and intensifies standardization of age-friendly financial services to meet the unique needs of older clients. In digital finance, guided by technological leadership, the bank systematically advances digital and intelligent transformation across business operations and management, accelerating the construction of a 'smart bank'; by end-2025, outstanding digital economy loans amounted to RMB 6.747 billion, a 27.78% increase from the start of the year.

On the other hand, Zhengzhou Bank closely follows national policy guidance on 'Two Major Priorities' and 'Two New Areas,' anchoring itself in the core arena of regional economic development and continuously strengthening its comprehensive financial capabilities to serve the real economy.

Seizing opportunities presented by the 'Two Major Priorities' and 'Two New Areas' policies, Zhengzhou Bank focuses on upgrading regionally competitive industries and enhancing its integrated investment banking capabilities. In syndicated lending, it prioritizes support for transportation and logistics, cultural tourism and creative industries, green energy, and urban renewal. During the reporting period, it served 21 projects, facilitating total financing of RMB 6.056 billion. Notably, as lead arranger, it successfully structured Henan’s first ESG-linked syndicated working capital loan, marking a significant breakthrough in using syndicated lending to support local enterprises’ green and low-carbon transitions. In merger and acquisition (M&A) finance, the bank prudently executes M&A financing centered on state-owned enterprise consolidation, asset revitalization, and regional productivity optimization, completing four transactions—including the province’s first M&A deal involving restructuring of a private enterprise under bankruptcy proceedings—delivering professional financial solutions to alleviate corporate distress and advance industrial upgrading. The bank also achieved multi-pronged progress in light-capital businesses: it underwrote 28 non-financial corporate debt instruments totaling RMB 8.653 billion; completed 45 placement transactions amounting to RMB 11.14 billion; and added 138 new credit bond investments totaling RMB 17.44 billion, effectively broadening direct financing channels for enterprises and reducing their overall financing costs.

Polishing the 'Wealth Manager' Brand to Achieve Value Leap through Retail Transformation

In September 2023, Zhengzhou Bank officially launched its retail transformation, guided by the service philosophy of 'customer experience first externally, operational efficiency first internally.' It built a 'Four Stewards' service system—comprising 'Citizen Steward,' 'Financing Steward,' 'Wealth Steward,' and 'Rural Steward'—to create an all-scenario retail financial ecosystem. This not only comprehensively enhanced the bank’s integrated service capabilities but also opened a new pathway to offset industry-wide pressure from narrowing interest rate spreads.

The rapid growth in personal deposits has become a hallmark achievement of Zhengzhou Bank’s retail transformation. Specifically, as of the reporting date, the bank’s total deposits stood at RMB 463.075 billion, an increase of RMB 58.537 billion or 14.47% from year-end, sustaining double-digit growth and continuously strengthening its funding base and developmental foundation. Personal deposits reached RMB 271.847 billion, up 24.60% year-on-year, placing Zhengzhou Bank among the top performers nationwide among city commercial banks in personal deposit growth and further optimizing its liability structure.

Continuous optimization on the liability side is rapidly translating into value creation in wealth management. In 2025, Zhengzhou Bank’s retail wealth-related financial assets reached RMB 57.252 billion, up 11.57% year-on-year, while fee income from agency wealth management services surged by 86.11% year-on-year.

In product offerings, Zhengzhou Bank adheres to the principles of 'high quality, diversification, and differentiation,' actively onboarding well-qualified third-party distributors to enrich its product matrix, adding 675 new distributed products. Tailoring to segmented client needs, it iteratively upgraded thematic products such as those 'exclusive to county-level markets' and proactively expanded into diversified investment vehicles like 'asset servicing trusts' to precisely match clients’ asset allocation requirements. The bank has thus built a comprehensive product suite covering cash management, pure fixed-income bonds, 'fixed-income plus,' multi-asset strategies, equity investments, and risk protection solutions.

In terms of service experience, Zhengzhou Bank continues to enhance its wealth brand benefits system, offering clients value-added services that combine practicality with a sense of exclusivity, thereby consistently strengthening their sense of fulfillment. The bank reinforces full-lifecycle wealth management services for its clients, leveraging digital tools to accurately identify client needs, efficiently deliver services, and refine product lifecycle management mechanisms—steadily improving client satisfaction and brand loyalty to solidify its service foundation.

From surpassing RMB 740 billion in total assets to achieving three consecutive years of declining non-performing loan ratios, and from dual-driven growth in corporate and retail banking to the comprehensive implementation of its 'Five Key Strategic Initiatives,' Zhengzhou Bank’s 2025 performance exemplifies a city commercial bank’s 'art of balance': prioritizing both scale and quality, aligning growth speed with risk control, and synchronizing deep local engagement with self-evolution.

Standing at the new starting point of the '15th Five-Year Plan' period, this city commercial bank rooted in Central China is steadily advancing toward its goal of becoming a premier city commercial bank—with a more balanced business portfolio, more refined management capabilities, and a steadfast commitment to client service. Scale is not the ultimate destination; balance is the answer. Prudence is not conservatism; resilience reveals true strength.

This content is provided by the company for reference purposes only.

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