Agricultural Bank of China submits its 2025 report: net profit up 3.3%, non-performing loan ratio down for five consecutive quarters

On March 30, China Agricultural Bank (601288.SH/1288.HK) officially released its annual report and held its 2025 performance briefing.

The report shows that in 2025, the bank achieved operating income of 725.31B yuan, up 2.1% year over year; and net profit of 292B yuan, up 3.3% year over year. Operating income and net profit maintained a “double growth” momentum.

At the briefing, President Wang Zhiheng said that in the complex and ever-changing operating environment of 2025, Agricultural Bank’s financial growth maintained strong resilience. Operating income has been maintaining positive growth for two consecutive years. Net profit not only continued to grow, but its growth rate also increased quarter by quarter, further consolidating a stable-to-improving trend.

“Management is full of confidence that it will deliver even better operating performance in 2026.” Wang Zhiheng emphasized.

In addition, the board of directors of Agricultural Bank recommended that a 2025 final dividend be paid of 1.3 yuan per 10 shares (including tax). Together with the interim dividend already paid, the total dividend for the full year will be 2.495 yuan per 10 shares (including tax), with total dividends of 87.32B yuan. The cash dividend payout ratio remains at 30%, actively giving back to shareholders and sharing the fruits of development.

A clear trend of stabilizing the net interest margin

In 2025, Agricultural Bank’s operating income and net profit continued the pattern of “double positive growth.”

From the profit composition perspective, net interest income was 569.59B yuan, accounting for 78.5% of operating income. Although it declined 1.9% year over year due to factors such as the LPR being lowered and market interest rates running at low levels, it remained the “anchor” supporting revenue. Net fee and commission income reached 88.09B yuan, up 16.6%, making a significant contribution to revenue growth. Other non-interest income also grew 24.6% year over year, jointly driving operating income to rise steadily.

“Looking at it over a longer time horizon, Agricultural Bank’s financial performance is even more noteworthy. Its net profit growth rate has led comparable peers for six consecutive years, its operating income has also led comparable peers, and it was the first to recover and hit historical highs, achieving sustained growth on a high base.” Wang Zhiheng said.

With regard to the net interest margin trend that the market has been highly focused on, Wang Zhiheng responded: “Net interest income growth has turned positive year over year, and a turning point is expected in the first quarter.”

He disclosed that based on the situation in the first two months of 2026, Agricultural Bank’s business operations continued to show a stable and improving trend. Corporate loans increased by 1.1 trillion yuan, achieving year-over-year net additional growth, and the trend of the net interest margin stabilizing became evident, laying a solid foundation for the bankwide profit growth.

Looking ahead to 2026, Wang Zhiheng said management is confident it will achieve even better operating performance. It will focus on three areas: first, promote the turnaround of the growth rate of net interest income; second, actively expand the growth space for non-interest income; third, manage risks and costs well.

Among non-interest income, Agricultural Bank’s wealth management business development has drawn particular attention. Vice President Lin Li positioned it as a link between residents’ savings and the economic cycle, and emphasized that this business has “great potential and great room to do well” for commercial banks.

In 2025, Agricultural Bank advanced its large-wealth-management business in depth. The substantial growth in net fee and commission income mainly benefited from increased income from wealth management and agency fund sales, including 87.8% growth in agency business.

Lin Li said that in 2025, Agricultural Bank’s large wealth management income reached 35.7 billion yuan, and wealth management fee income reached 25.1 billion yuan, becoming a new growth engine for business development. Overall, the business exhibited strong resilience, high market recognition, balanced and stable performance, and low volatility.

Stable asset quality

“From the perspective of commercial banks, the watershed over the next two to three years lies in risk management capability.” Lin Li said at the briefing.

He pointed out that products can be homogenized, services can be homogenized, and even artificial intelligence technology in the future may become homogenized, but the differentiation in risk management is objectively present and is crucial.

Lin Li introduced that as of the end of 2025, Agricultural Bank’s non-performing loan ratio was 1.27%, down 0.03 percentage points from the end of the previous year, maintaining a declining trend for five consecutive years. Loans under watch accounted for 1.39%, down 0.01 percentage point from the beginning of the year. The overdue loan ratio was 1.25%, remaining at the lowest level among comparable peers, and it was the only bank among its peers with an overdue ratio below its non-performing loan ratio. In addition, the bank has maintained a negative “overdue-to-non-performing” spread for five consecutive years. At the same time, the loan loss reserve balance exceeded 1 trillion yuan, and the provision coverage ratio was 292.55%, indicating strong risk coverage ability.

Lin Li emphasized that in the next stage, Agricultural Bank will continue to adhere to a prudent and steady risk appetite and firmly hold the risk bottom line. “‘Inclusive retail loans’ have the characteristics of ‘small, dispersed, and numerous,’ but we will not let them be ‘haphazardly managed.’ Instead, we will achieve ‘clear-eyed and well-managed.’”

On the basis of solid risk control, Agricultural Bank has continued to increase support from credit resources for national strategies. Wang Zhiheng said that in 2026, Agricultural Bank is expected to keep credit growth roughly comparable to 2025, and continue to serve the real economy with precision.

“Over the first two months this year, China’s economy got off to a favorable start and a good opening. We also seized opportunities, focused our efforts precisely around national strategic deployments, and credit deployment also achieved a ‘strong start.’” Wang Zhiheng said. As of the end of February, Agricultural Bank’s bankwide incremental loans to the real economy increased more than year over year, and the momentum of credit growth remained steady. Among them, loan growth in key areas such as “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers,” green, and technology continued to be higher than the bankwide average.

Next, Agricultural Bank’s credit deployment will focus on four areas: first, deepen support for “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” and rural revitalization, focusing on areas such as rural development and rural特色 industries, providing regular service to key regions for national rural revitalization, and ensuring stable growth of county-level loans; second, around “two major expansions” (two heavy tasks) and “two new initiatives” (two new developments), stepping up support to expand domestic demand, focusing on key projects under the “Fifteenth Five-Year Plan” period, while maintaining a leading momentum in consumer loan growth; third, support the development of a modern industrial system—helping traditional industries transform and upgrade, accelerating innovation in technology and finance, and actively cultivating new quality productive forces; fourth, deepen financial services for inclusive people’s wellbeing, strengthening and implementing the financing coordination and cooperation mechanism for small and micro enterprises, and further improving people’s livelihood financial services.

Inclusive finance: both quantity and quality

“Serving rural revitalization is the main responsibility and main business of Agricultural Bank, and it is also our strategic focus. It is likewise our differentiated competitive advantage.” Wang Zhiheng emphasized.

He said that in 2025, Agricultural Bank firmly stayed committed to its main responsibility and main business, deeply grasped the opportunities arising from integrated urban-rural development, and continuously optimized the supply of financing for rural revitalization. The development of “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” and county-level businesses continued to improve in quality and efficiency, mainly reflected in three aspects.

First, it contributes more. Both county-level average daily deposits and loan incremental growth exceeded 1 trillion yuan, and the incremental share within the bank increased by 10.5 percentage points and 1.4 percentage points versus the previous year, respectively. Second, the structure is better. The outstanding balance of loans to farmers exceeded 1.8 trillion yuan, adding 337.7 billion yuan; the growth rate reached 22.4%. Loan growth in key areas such as grain production and rural industries was clearly higher than the growth rate of county-level loans. Third, the effectiveness is better. The non-performing loan ratio at the county level fell 0.08 percentage points compared with the beginning of the year, and asset quality continued to remain stable.

At the same time, inclusive finance services reached a new level. According to the annual report, as of the end of 2025, Agricultural Bank’s inclusive loans outstanding reached 4.35 trillion yuan, with an additional 749.9 billion yuan for the full year. The number of inclusive small and micro enterprise customers with loans was 5.24 million households, adding 0.66 million households. The outstanding balance of inclusive loans, the incremental amount, the number of inclusive small and micro enterprises with loans, and customer increments all ranked first among comparable peers.

“As the leading bank with the largest inclusive finance supply of total volume, the widest coverage of services, and the strongest capability for sustainable development, Agricultural Bank’s leading position has been further consolidated.” Wang Zhiheng said.

He also introduced that in line with the development trend of artificial intelligence, Agricultural Bank is accelerating the rollout and application of smart R&D tools in the “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” service sector. By promoting a “on-site + remote” survey model, it builds agricultural-related data systems covering satellite, unmanned aerial vehicles, ground IoT, and other areas, enhancing the technological support capability and data supply level for agricultural-related businesses, and injecting stronger digital momentum into rural revitalization.

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