Chinese Lenders' Q1 Loan Growth Slows as 2025 Net Interest Margin Shrinks to 1.40%
Updated
Updated · Hong Kong Standard · May 14
Chinese Lenders' Q1 Loan Growth Slows as 2025 Net Interest Margin Shrinks to 1.40%
1 articles · Updated · Hong Kong Standard · May 14
EY said Chinese lenders expanded loans more slowly in the first quarter, with banks turning more cautious on disbursements as macro conditions stayed complex and asset-quality pressure persisted.
Asset stress was most visible at some small and midsize banks, where impaired-loan ratios remained above bad-loan ratios even after the average listed-bank bad-loan ratio edged down 0.02 percentage points to 1.24 in 2025.
Margins showed tentative stabilization in Q1: among 25 A-share listed banks that disclosed net interest margin, more than half reported the figure rising or holding steady.
That follows a 13-basis-point drop in Chinese banks' average net interest margin to 1.40% in 2025, the sixth straight annual contraction, even as higher lending and investment volumes lifted net interest income 0.11% and ended a two-year decline.
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