Zheshang Bank's 2025 performance briefing instills confidence in long-term development

Published by | China Visit Network

Review | Li Xiaoyan

On March 31, the Zhaoshang Bank 2025 Annual Results Briefing was held successfully. This marked the first in-depth public exchange between the bank’s newly appointed management team and the market. Faced with a complex and ever-changing external environment and the pains of industry transformation, Zhaoshang Bank takes “stability as the top priority and professional dedication as the core tone” as its guiding principle. It delivers an annual answer sheet characterized by overall stability, improvements in quality and efficiency, and a marked display of resilience. The bank clearly explains its long-term oriented business philosophy and firmly conveys its strategic resolve and development confidence in building a “first-class commercial bank.”

2025 is a critical year for the banking sector to push forward under pressure and to tackle transformation challenges head-on. Under multiple pressures—including a weak economic recovery at the macro level, the continued narrowing of industry net interest margins, and intensified market volatility—Zhaoshang Bank adheres to its strategic positioning without causing unnecessary turmoil or moving recklessly. It uses the certainty of its own development to respond to external uncertainties, with an overall stable operating posture and continuously optimized structure.

By the end of 2025, Zhaoshang Bank’s total assets reached 3.48 trillion yuan, up 4.68% from the end of the previous year, with steady scale expansion. For the full year, it recorded operating income of 62.514 billion yuan, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 12.931 billion yuan. Its earnings base remains solid. Especially noteworthy is the continued improvement in asset quality. The non-performing loan ratio fell to 1.36%, down 0.02 percentage points year on year, achieving a decline for four consecutive years. Its risk management capabilities have been steadily strengthening, providing a secure safety buffer for high-quality development.

The effectiveness of refined liability-side management is significant. The average interest rate paid on deposits fell by 32 BP from the previous year, with precise cost control delivering strong results. Deposits within Zhejiang Province surpassed 630 billion yuan, ranking first among joint-stock banks for the first time, and its local market foundation has been continuously strengthened. On the asset side, the bank stays rooted in serving the real economy. More than half of its new lending flows into key areas such as technology innovation, green initiatives, and inclusive finance. Its net interest margin remains at 1.60%, better than the market average, demonstrating a resilient operating capability that can weather the cycle.

This year is the inaugural year of the country’s “15th Five-Year Plan” period, and it is also the starting year of Zhaoshang Bank’s “5th Five-Year Plan.” Standing at a new historical starting point, Zhaoshang Bank remains steadfast in its vision of a “first-class commercial bank.” It adheres to the core strategy of “deepening involvement in Zhejiang,” and establishes five-character action principles: “stability, progress, innovation, reform, and excellence,” forming consistent strategic resolve and a heightened sense of action.

Around its development goals, the bank has defined four major strategic routes: “management to run the bank, service to excel, technology to invigorate the bank, and talent to strengthen the bank.” It works to build a sustainable development model of “low risk occupation, high-quality assets, and refined management.” In 205, the newly appointed management team comprehensively launched the construction of a “five-in-one” management system—standardized, refined, empowerment-oriented, system-based, and science-based—making clear the reform direction of “strengthening the head office, optimizing branches, and delivering what needs to be done at sub-branches.” Management effectiveness continues to be released.

Centered on customers, the bank deepens integrated operations. It implements the “Huanxin Strengthening the Foundation” project, promoting the transformation of technology from back-end support to operational empowerment. It improves talent incentive mechanisms and fosters a favorable ecosystem of “putting the奋斗者 first.” It firmly pursues long-term high-quality development momentum without sacrificing risk or exhausting the future in exchange for short-term benefits.

After a smooth transition from the old team to the new one, Zhaoshang Bank’s newly appointed management team upholds the philosophy of “govern the bank professionally and manage it with experts.” Complying strictly with the operating laws of commercial banks, it proposes an “1155” operating strategy. Based on the core “construction blueprint” of “one main line, one core capability, five-dimensional coordination, and five teams operating in linkage,” it guides the bank to operate steadily and to focus its efforts precisely.

Stay with one main line: adhere to customer-centered integrated operations, break down departmental barriers, and realize one-stop service where “walk into one door and get everything done,” fully enhancing the customer service experience. Forge one capability: build an enterprise-level industry research capability. Each year, it deepens focus on 3–4 key industries, forming professional judgment skills that enable the bank to “understand business logic, risk characteristics, and development rules.” Currently, industry research in fields such as artificial intelligence and new energy has already been launched, enabling precise support for credit deployment.

Strengthen five-dimensional coordination to advance coordinated development among customer segments, risk, structure, efficiency, and scale. On customer segments: in corporate banking, it focuses on “new-quality Zhaoshang” while in retail it deeply serves the middle-income segment to support shared prosperity. On risk: it places risk control at the top of the business agenda, specifying that for new corporate business, the non-performing loan net generation rate must be kept within 5 per thousand, and it maintains a firm risk bottom line. On structure: it optimizes resource allocation to enhance operational resilience. On efficiency and scale: it pursues “appropriate scale,” and plans that during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, asset growth will not be lower than Zhejiang’s GDP growth rate, achieving balanced development in both scale and quality.

Deepen five-team linkage to promote coordinated development of corporate and financial market services; balance between stock and flow; interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing services; domestic and overseas operations; and financial and non-financial services. With “unlocking stock and expanding flow” as the key approach, it promotes the circulation of bank assets such as bills, certificates, and bonds used in transaction banking, with related transaction income accounting for over 4%. Leveraging the traditional advantages of supply chain finance, it builds the featured “Zhaoyin Transaction” brand and creates new competitive advantages through differentiated development.

In featured business areas, Zhaoshang Bank breaks through in multiple points with prominent advantages, forming a differentiated development matrix. For technology innovation finance, with a “talent bank” as the foundation, loan balances exceed 270 billion yuan and it serves more than 35,000 technology innovation enterprises. For supply chain finance, it covers sectors including power and new energy vehicles, serving more than 98,000 upstream and downstream enterprises, while the non-performing rate remains at a low level.

The precious metals business has become the bank’s biggest highlight of the year. At the results briefing, Vice President Jing Feng revealed that in 2025 Zhaoshang Bank precisely captured the one-way upward trend in gold. For the full year, the trading volume of precious metals expanded by eight times compared with the previous year, and its trading capabilities and brand advantages improved rapidly. Building upon traditional analysis, the bank introduced a quantitative factor model to strengthen both hedging and directional trading capabilities, establishing a distinctive trading moat.

Looking ahead to 2026, facing complex external conditions and market volatility, Zhaoshang Bank will maintain a prudent attitude and enhance its precious metals service capabilities from two dimensions. On one hand, it will further deepen its proprietary trading, improve an integrated investment research system, iterate quantitative models, and capture structural opportunities. On the other hand, it will optimize agency-for-clients business, enrich product systems such as accumulated gold and physical precious metals, focus on demand from industrial chains, provide “one enterprise, one policy” integrated financial services, and continue to consolidate its leading position in the business.

At the briefing, Zhaoshang Bank’s management provided an in-depth explanation of the profound meaning behind the brand logo “Yuqiong and the Abacus” and their fusion. Yuqiong embodies 5,000 years of civilization, reflecting historical weight and a spirit of reverence; the abacus condenses commercial wisdom, implying careful calculation, honest operations, and the ability to weather the cycle. It symbolizes the business bottom line of “tough rules, tough ledgers, and tough calculators.”

Taking over the baton of development from the 21-year journey, the management solemnly pledges to firmly implement the national and provincial party committee and provincial government’s strategic deployments, and to practice the cultural philosophy of “seeing the bank, seeing the mind, and seeing the future.” “Seeing the bank” means doing solid work and strengthening execution, and carrying forward the “six-doing style.” “Seeing the mind” means staying true to one’s original intention and serving the real economy and shared prosperity. “Seeing the future” means adhering to long-termism—drawing one blueprint to the end, accompanying customers as they grow, and creating sustainable value for all stakeholders.

With the tide receding and the horizon widening, sails full and strength at the ready, we take advantage of the momentum to start a new journey. The steady operations and strategic layout of 2025 have laid a solid foundation for Zhaoshang Bank’s high-quality development in the “15th Five-Year Plan” period. Starting from a new beginning, Zhaoshang Bank will continue to build on “stability” as the foundation and “expertise” as the key, stay rooted in serving the real economy, and remain steadfast on the path of long-termism. Within strategic resolve, it will nurture new opportunities; within professional dedication, it will open up new chapters. It will move steadily toward its vision of “a first-class commercial bank,” and with more stable operations, better quality services, and outstanding results, it will repay market trust and help drive economic development.