--- title: "CNCB's Q1 Revenue Growth Turns Positive: Corporate Business Improves While Retail Faces Pressure" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/284753231.md" description: "In the first quarter of 2026, CNCB reported operating revenue of RMB 54.649 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.23%, defying market expectations of continued negative revenue growth. The decline in net interest margin slowed to 1.61%, and the cost ratio of personal deposits dropped to 1.73%. Non-interest net income rose by 13.07% year-on-year, with wealth management fee income increasing by 45.17%. In lending operations, the NPL Ratio fell to 1.15% by the end of 2025. While credit quality in corporate banking improved, the retail segment faced cyclical pressure, with the personal loan NPL Ratio rising to 1.32%" datetime: "2026-04-30T11:02:04.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/284753231.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/284753231.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/284753231.md) --- # CNCB's Q1 Revenue Growth Turns Positive: Corporate Business Improves While Retail Faces Pressure CNCB's revenue trajectory has shown signs of stabilization: For the full year 2025, the bank recorded operating revenue of RMB 212.475 billion, a slight year-on-year decrease of 0.55%. Entering the first quarter of 2026, single-quarter revenue reached RMB 54.649 billion, a year-on-year rebound of 5.23%, breaking previous market expectations of sustained negative revenue growth. **This rebound was primarily driven by a slowdown in the decline of the net interest margin.** The net interest margin for the full year 2025 was 1.63%, a year-on-year decrease of 14 basis points. By the first quarter of 2026, the net interest margin stood at 1.61%, showing a relatively stable trend. Amidst LPR cuts, CNCB hedged against pressure by reducing high-cost liabilities. In 2025, the cost ratio of personal deposits decreased by 33 basis points to 1.73%. Combined with total assets of RMB 10.24 trillion in the first quarter, its net interest income achieved a year-on-year growth of 1.66% during the period, reflecting a business strategy of compensating for price declines with volume growth. **Growth in non-interest income was another key factor driving revenue.** In the first quarter of 2026, the bank's non-interest net income reached RMB 18.379 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.07%. Looking back at 2025, fee income from wealth management businesses grew by 45.17% year-on-year, with the wealth management sector partially offsetting the slowdown in traditional lending growth. Additionally, the net cash flow from operating activities in the first quarter amounted to RMB 188.185 billion, a year-on-year surge of 395.31%. The financial report attributed this mainly to increased cash inflows from interbank transactions, reflecting active capital circulation in the interbank market. **In terms of asset quality, CNCB's lending business showed significant structural divergence.** Overall, the NPL Ratio dropped to 1.15% by the end of 2025 and remained at this level in the first quarter of 2026. **A detailed breakdown reveals that credit quality in corporate banking is improving:** Data on real estate exposure and local government debt, which had been a major market concern, showed a decline. In 2025, the balance of loans for implicit local government debt was RMB 75.364 billion, a decrease of RMB 62.539 billion from the end of the previous year, with an NPL Ratio of 0.19%. **However, asset quality on the retail side faces certain cyclical pressures, as macroeconomic fluctuations have genuinely impacted household balance sheets:** By the end of 2025, the NPL Ratio for personal loans rose by 0.07 percentage points to 1.32%. Among these, affected by weak income expectations, the NPL Ratio for personal consumer loans climbed to 2.80%, an increase of 0.66 percentage points from the end of the previous year; the credit card NPL Ratio also reached 2.62%. By the first quarter of 2026, the NPL Ratio for personal housing loans further edged up by 0.11 percentage points to 0.52%. From the perspective of write-offs and provisions, CNCB disposed of RMB 87.79 billion in Nonperforming Loan in 2025, maintaining strong efforts in collection and restructuring. The provision coverage ratio slightly decreased to 202.45% in the first quarter of 2026, indicating that the bank is steadily utilizing some provisions to write off non-performing assets. This helps maintain stability in overall asset quality on the books, balancing retail risk exposure with improvements in corporate asset quality. Regarding capital and shareholder returns, CNCB continued its robust dividend distribution. The proposed total cash dividends for 2025 amounted to RMB 10.74 billion. Together with interim dividends, the full-year dividend payout reached RMB 21.201 billion, representing 31.75% of the net profit attributable to shareholders, a historic high. As of the end of the first quarter of 2026, the core tier-1 capital adequacy ratio was 9.33%, maintaining stable core capital metrics even as asset size surpassed the RMB 10 trillion mark. **In summary, CNCB's current business focus lies in stabilizing corporate banking, defending in retail banking, and hedging with non-interest income.** The return to positive revenue growth in the first quarter demonstrates the positive impact of liability-side cost control on profit elasticity. With real estate and local government debt exposures gradually shrinking, changes in asset quality for personal consumer credit and credit card businesses have become core indicators for assessing the bank's future risk profile. For investors focused on defensive counterattacks and high-dividend strategies, while securing a 31.75% dividend return, it is essential to continuously monitor the subsequent performance of early delinquency indicators in retail credit during the second half of the year. Risk Warning and Disclaimer Market investments carry risks; please invest with caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice, nor does it consider the specific investment objectives, financial status, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article align with their specific circumstances. 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