Recently, Wang Xifeng, the chairman of Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank, who has ranked first in the &#34;A-share rural commercial bank salary list&#34; for two consecutive years, officially retired at the age of retirement, marking the end of his nearly three-year tenure.
The curtain call of this veteran has sparked discussions in the market about the compensation mechanism, while also bringing the performance of Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank during his term into focus.
When Wang Xifeng took over in 2022, Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank was deeply mired in a decade-long performance trough, with profits declining by more than 20% year-on-year, and it was fined over 70 million yuan for imprudent management of real estate loans.
After three years of &#34;counter-trend&#34; breakthroughs, the bank's profits have entered a stable upward channel, achieving a growth of 3.57% in the first three quarters of 2025, despite a 4.92% decline in revenue, demonstrating certain profit resilience.
However, beneath the growth halo, concerns always loom:
In the first half of 2025, the non-performing loan ratio in the real estate industry has exceeded 20%, and credit expansion has nearly stalled; the rapid progress of Qingdao Bank and Qilu Bank in the same region has continuously squeezed the market share of Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank.
Faced with the dual challenges of internal asset quality pressure and intensified external competition, the new management must seek a difficult rebalancing in the &#34;narrow gap&#34; between risk mitigation, scale growth, and regional competition.
<h2>Asset-Liability Mismatch</h2>
Breaking it down, Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank's business structure is traditional. In the first three quarters, the contribution rates of interest, non-interest income, and investment were 68.63%, 8.73%, and 19.61%, respectively, increasing by 2.06%, 2.51%, and 32.59% compared to the same period last year;
Among them, the growth of credit, as the main business, is weak, and non-interest income has not been able to form support after years of light asset transformation. Although investment income has seen significant growth, it still shows a slight decline after accounting for fair value changes amid bond market fluctuations.
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://wpimg-wscn.awtmt.com/3a278238-3696-4689-85fe-38d2ff0f7927.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://wpimg-wscn.awtmt.com/3a278238-3696-4689-85fe-38d2ff0f7927.png"/> The fatigue and awkwardness of Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank in transformation is a microcosm of the current rural commercial banks under regional competition:
As the macro economy enters a new cycle, national commercial banks and city commercial banks begin to shift their business centers downward. If rural commercial banks cannot establish a differentiated moat in the heated regional competition, they will inevitably face the dangerous situation of &#34;rowing against the current.&#34;
For many years, credit has been the absolute mainstay of Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank's revenue. From 2020 to the first three quarters of 2025, although the contribution rate of interest to revenue has continued to decline, it has remained around 70%.
The fluctuation in the proportion of interest is due to the good returns Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank achieved from proactive investments during the bond market fluctuations in the past two years, which supported performance; on the other hand, after the decline in interest margins, credit income has passively decreased, leading to a long-term downward trend in interest income.
In the competition with financial peers in the Qingdao area, Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank's advantage is concentrated on the liability side.
The joint credit rating report reveals that from 2022 to 2024, the bank's deposit market share has always maintained the top position in Qingdao City;
While maintaining the lead in &#34;quantity,&#34; the bank's deposit cost rate in 2024 was only 1.92%, which is 0.18 percentage points better than Qingdao Bank in the same region. The stability of rural commercial bank deposits has a natural advantage over city commercial banks, which further supports the liquidity of Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank
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On the other hand, QRCB's asset performance is relatively weak.
First, both the market share and growth rate of loans have been mediocre, with a 0.77% increase in the first three quarters compared to the beginning of the year, lagging behind deposits by 1.83 percentage points;
Second, there is insufficient pricing power, with a loan yield of 4.32% in 2024 lagging behind Qingdao Bank by 0.29 percentage points;
Third, asset quality is poor, with a non-performing loan ratio of 1.73% at the end of the third quarter, the worst level among A-share city commercial banks.
As of the end of the third quarter, QRCB's loan-to-deposit ratio has dropped to 79.99%, which is relatively low compared to peers, indicating poor capital utilization efficiency.
The mismatch between the capabilities of the asset and liability sides has prompted QRCB to allocate more resources to financial investments while seeking a light asset transformation. However, based on the performance over the past two years, both paths have proven difficult.
The first challenge is that the investment sector has been highly volatile due to the bond market conditions.
Under the influence of the &#34;bond bull&#34; market in 2024, the bank's investment income and fair value changes increased by 279 million yuan and 579 million yuan, respectively, with an overall year-on-year growth of 26.8%, contributing about 30% of the profits for that year;
However, in this year's bond market fluctuations, the bank's investment income and fair value changes in the first three quarters have decreased by 22.4% year-on-year, with a loss of 338 million yuan in fair value changes in the third quarter.
The second challenge is direct competition with local financial institutions such as Qingdao Bank on the path of light asset transformation.
For example, in terms of wealth management, research results from Puyi Standard's comprehensive product evaluation and surveys indicate that while QRCB ranks among the top in wealth management capabilities among rural commercial banks, its abilities in issuance, returns, product development, and operational management still lag behind Qingyin Wealth Management under Qingdao Bank.
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From 2020 to 2024, QRCB's proportion of non-interest income has increased from 3.16% to 7.09%; the gap with Qingdao Bank's non-interest income has also narrowed from a peak of 1.463 billion yuan in 2021 to 531 million yuan.
However, it is noted that in the new round of &#34;deposit migration&#34; that began in July, QRCB's growth rate still lags behind Qingdao Bank, with the two banks' non-interest income growth rates from July to September being 5.39% and 7.14%, respectively;
This indicates that while QRCB has been striving to catch up in light asset business, there is still a gap compared to other local financial peers.
<h2>Internal and External Challenges Coexist</h2>
In 2022, QRCB experienced a growth rate of -24.11%, placing it at the bottom among A-share banks;
Now, the bank's profits have returned to growth, with a net profit growth ranking of 18th out of 42 in the third quarter, which is above the mid-level among peers.
At this stage, QRCB's core dilemma has shifted from declining performance to the &#34;internal and external challenges&#34; that cannot be resolved in the short term:
The continuous explosion of its real estate business requires QRCB to shift its focus from offense to defense, re-examine its risk control system and credit structure, and seek a new balance between &#34;quantity, price, and risk&#34;;
However, the intense competition brought about by the rapid expansion of Qingdao Bank, which is based in Qingdao, and Qilu Bank, which aims to cover the entire province, continues to squeeze QRCB's future survival space.
As of the end of the third quarter, QRCB's non-performing loan ratio of 1.73% is already the worst level among listed rural commercial banks.
Among them, the asset quality in the real estate sector is particularly unstable, having experienced two rounds of explosions;
In 2022, the bank's real estate business first exposed a large number of risky assets, with a non-performing loan ratio as high as 6.1%, driving the overall non-performing ratio of the bank to 2.19%, ranking last among its peers in the A-share market;
After significant write-offs, QRCB's non-performing loan ratio in real estate once dropped to 1.36%;
However, in less than a year, the real estate business exploded again, with the non-performing loan ratio in the first half of 2025 soaring to 21.32%, with over one-fifth of the loan balance being provisioned for bad debts.
The bank explained that &#34;the formation of non-performing loans due to the risk exposure of individual loans is currently being dealt with and is a normal fluctuation.&#34;
Similar large-scale explosions have not occurred in other banks in the same region; for example, in the first half of 2025, Qingdao Bank's real estate credit non-performing loan ratio was only 1.89%.
The resurgence of risky assets may be a legacy of past concentrated lending and lax compliance:
In 2022, the bank was fined 44 million yuan for multiple violations, including severely imprudent management of real estate loans, resulting in penalties for 28 responsible persons, with one being banned for life;
A year later, the bank sought to recover over 2 billion yuan in loans from China Overseas Real Estate and the third largest shareholder &#34;Balong Group&#34; through litigation, but when the court executed, there were no executable assets under the other party's name, ultimately resulting in a large amount of bad debt.
With the &#34;second explosion&#34; of the real estate business, the bank will inevitably need to provision more capital for write-offs, which may pressure profits.
It is worth noting that other financial institutions in the same region are still in a rapid expansion phase.
There are three A-share listed banks in Shandong Province: Qilu Bank, Qingdao Bank, and QRCB;
Since 2021, QRCB, which originally progressed at the same pace, has significantly lagged behind the other two city commercial banks in profit growth;
In the first three quarters of this year, Qingdao Bank and Qilu Bank's profit growth rates have soared to the first and second positions among A-share listed banks, while QRCB is only in the twentieth position, having fallen behind by 10 percentage points.
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QRCB's current strategy is to expand into other counties in the province, with Qingdao as the main battlefield:
At the end of the first half of the year, the loan proportions in Qingdao and other regions were 93.91% and 6.09%, respectively, with the proportion in other regions increasing by 0.11 percentage points since the beginning of the year.
Since 2025, QRCB has frequently increased its efforts in other locations and has been approved to open 24 branches outside of Qingdao, while also absorbing and merging with five village and town banks in Rizhao, Jining, and Yinan, achieving an expansion of its operating area
This also means that QRCB will face more direct competition with other financial peers in the new battlefield.
Xinfeng noted that Qilu Bank, also a listed bank, is vigorously promoting county-level construction across the province and accelerating the sinking of financial services;
Shandong currently has 110 rural commercial banks, and in the three cities that QRCB focused on in the first half of the year—Jining, Rizhao, and Linyi—there are 11, 4, and 11 rural commercial banks respectively, not to mention the local urban commercial banks and the numerous county branches of state-owned banks;
All of the above indicates that QRCB's expansion into other regions will not be easy.
In addition to &#34;internal troubles and external challenges,&#34; the bank still faces uncertainties in personnel and policies.
Wang Xifeng, who recently resigned as chairman upon reaching retirement age, was born in 1965, while Yu Fengxing, who is temporarily taking over, was born in 1968. The average age of the executive team is 54, and the two vice presidents, Ding Ming and Wang Yu, are also from the &#34;post-65&#34; generation;
This means that within the next five years, the bank's management will continue to undergo personnel changes, which may affect strategic continuity.
At the same time, the unannounced reform plan for rural credit institutions in Shandong Province may also impact the development path of QRCB.
In the new wave of rural credit institution reforms, provinces mainly have two types of choices:
One is to retain a two-tier legal entity structure, where county-level rural commercial banks, rural credit cooperatives, and other institutions form a provincial joint bank, enhancing collaboration and risk resistance while maintaining the vitality of county-level legal entities through &#34;upper participation and lower participation&#34; or &#34;lower participation and upper participation&#34; equity forms;
The second is to establish a unified legal entity provincial rural commercial bank, by newly establishing or absorbing and merging the legal qualifications of county-level banks and cooperatives, incorporating them as branches of the head office, and quickly resolving risks through unified standards and centralized resources.
In Jiangsu and Zhejiang, where provincial joint banks are being formed, listed rural commercial banks such as Changshu Bank, Zijin Bank, and Ruifeng Bank have maintained independent legal status and received empowerment from the joint bank;
However, in Hainan and Jilin, where a unified provincial legal entity is being established, Qiongzhong Rural Credit has delisted from the New Third Board and canceled its legal status, with all business, assets, and liabilities inherited by Hainan Rural Commercial Bank, while Jiutai Rural Commercial Bank has delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and may subsequently merge into Jilin Rural Commercial Bank.
Under the different possible reform paths, the impact on QRCB remains to be observed

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Recently, Wang Xifeng, the chairman of Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank, who has ranked first in the "A-share rural commercial bank salary list" for two consecutive years, officially retired at the age of eligibility, marking the end of his nearly three-year tenure

After three years of reform, Chairman bids farewell as QRCB falls into "home court anxiety" again