Nanhai Rural Commercial Bank's revenue and net profit both declined last year, with cash dividends distributed exceeding 800 million yuan

Recently, Guangdong Nanhai Rural Commercial Bank (hereinafter referred to as “Nanhai Rural Bank”), which has been waiting at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for years, released its 2025 annual report.

The report shows that in 2025, Nanhai Rural Bank achieved operating income of 5.9B yuan, a decrease of 8.16% year-on-year; net profit of 2.34B yuan, down 4.80% year-on-year. However, the bank’s asset quality has improved somewhat, with non-performing loan ratio decreasing from 1.55% at the end of June 2025 to 1.39% at year-end.

At the same time, there has been new progress in the bank’s IPO process. On March 31, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange official website showed that Nanhai Rural Bank’s IPO application was suspended due to “the financial data in the application documents being past their validity period and requiring supplementary submission of materials,” changing the review status from “Accepted” to “Suspended.”

Southern Finance reporters noted that this is also the fifth time the bank’s IPO has been suspended since March 2024 for the same reason. The bank began IPO guidance in 2018, submitted a listing application in 2019, but has yet to make substantial progress.

Both revenue and net profit declined, with reduced volatility

In 2025, Nanhai Rural Bank achieved operating income of 5.9B yuan, down 8.16% year-on-year; net profit of 2.34B yuan, down 4.80% year-on-year.

Looking at a longer cycle, the bank’s operating income from 2023 to 2025 decreased by 1.79%, 6.30%, and 8.16% respectively, with the decline widening each year. However, net profit volatility has narrowed, with year-on-year changes of -12.68%, +2.99%, and -4.80% over the same period.

Nanhai Rural Bank stated that during the reporting period, the group focused on developing new quality productivity, concentrating on “five major articles,” continuously increasing credit support for key areas, industries, and projects, and steadily expanding loan scale. However, influenced by the reduction of LPR (Loan Prime Rate), re-pricing of existing loans, declining interest rates on new loans, and the overall market environment, the yield on loans continued to decline, dragging down interest income.

United Credit Rating also pointed out in its latest report that, affected by the accelerated narrowing of net interest margin and larger provisions for impairment, Nanhai Rural Bank’s profitability indicators have shown a downward trend, but remain above industry averages.

Specifically, in 2025, the bank’s interest income was 8.53B yuan, down 6.54% mainly due to decreases in interest income from loans, bonds, and other investments; net interest income was 3.49B yuan, down 6.21%. Against this backdrop, net interest margin fell to 1.17%, down 0.19 percentage points from the end of 2024, when it was 1.34%.

Non-interest net income was 2.41B yuan, down 10.84%, mainly due to a decrease in gains from fair value changes. Among these, net fee and commission income was 231 million yuan, up 15.27%; investment income reached 2.58B yuan, up 20.58%, accounting for 106.96% of non-interest net income. Notably, the bank also experienced a significant increase in investment income last year. In 2024, its investment income was 2.14B yuan, up 16.20%.

Looking at the income structure, the proportions of net interest income, net fee and commission income, and other non-interest income were 59.12%, 3.91%, and 36.97%, respectively. Compared to 2024, the share of net interest income increased by 1.23 percentage points, net fee and commission income increased by 0.79 percentage points, and non-interest income share decreased by 2.02 percentage points.

Additionally, in 2025, the bank’s average return on total assets (ROA) was 0.68%, and average return on equity (ROE) was 8.35%.

Asset scale and loan balances continued to grow

As of the end of 2025, Nanhai Rural Bank’s total assets were 351.07B yuan, an increase of 4.84% from the previous year; total loans were 183.05 billion yuan, up 8.62%. Total liabilities were 322.76B yuan, an increase of 5.07%; total deposits were 247.97B yuan, up 5.77%.

Structurally, at the end of the period, corporate loans totaled 108.98B yuan, up 12.29% from the previous year, accounting for 59.54% of total loans. Personal loans amounted to 47.83B yuan, an increase of 5.77%, making up 26.13% of total loans.

Regarding asset quality, the bank’s non-performing loans (NPLs) continued the trend from last year: NPL balance was 2.55B yuan, an increase of 143 million yuan; the NPL ratio was 1.39%, a decrease of 0.04 percentage points year-on-year.

Non-performing loans mainly consisted of non-performing corporate loans, accounting for 62.42%. The balances and ratios of NPLs in manufacturing, wholesale and retail sectors remained relatively stable, while those in real estate, leasing and business services, and construction industries declined.

Furthermore, the ratio of loans to the bank’s single largest customer increased by 0.76% to 5.35%, and the ratio of loans to the top ten customers increased by 3.08% to 29.37%.

Meanwhile, the balance of special mention loans and the special mention loan ratio also increased. The bank’s special mention loan balance was 8.32B yuan, up 34.18% from the end of last year; the special mention loan ratio was 4.55%, up 0.87 percentage points, mainly due to macroeconomic slowdown and poor overall business environment affecting repayment capacity.

Amidst performance pressure, the bank still announced a dividend payout ratio of 20.8%, distributing 2.08 yuan (including tax) in cash dividends per 10 shares, totaling 820 million yuan. Although the annual cash dividend payout ratio remains above 35%, and nearly 3.6 billion yuan has been paid out in cash dividends over the past four years, the per-share dividend has decreased for three consecutive years.

In its annual report, Nanhai Rural Bank stated that at the new starting point of the “14th Five-Year Plan,” the bank will focus on “coordinating development and safety” as its core tone, with “promoting reform, strengthening services, improving quality and efficiency, and controlling risks” as its main operational lines. It aims to win the “asset quality attack, customer group and innovation breakout, digital integration upgrade, and cost reduction and efficiency improvement” campaigns, promoting coordinated development of quality, scale, efficiency, and effectiveness.