①The total balance of personal consumer loans at the six major state-owned banks is approximately RMB 3.33 trillion, representing a net increase of about RMB 556 billion compared to the previous year. Excluding Postal Savings Bank, the growth rate of consumer loans at the five major state-owned banks exceeded 16% last year compared to the previous year. ②Several insiders from state-owned large banks and city commercial banks told reporters that they will closely monitor national policies and make disbursements accordingly. However, regarding the overall growth rate of consumer loans this year, they are “not very optimistic.”
According to a report by Cailian Press on April 8 (reporter Peng Keyuan), last spring, multiple departments officially launched a special campaign to boost consumption and guided banks and other institutions to increase financial supply. Now that a year has passed, how effective have leading banks been in supporting the boost of consumption?
Based on the annual reports of the six major state-owned banks, a preliminary statistical analysis by Cailian Press reporters found that as of the end of 2025, the cumulative total of personal consumer loans provided by the six major state-owned banks (Note: According to the statistical criteria of the banks’ annual reports, housing loans, credit cards, and business loans are generally not included, but there are slight differences in statistical methods among different banks; all annual data is categorized under the same statistical heading for each bank) amounted to approximately 3.33 trillion yuan, representing a net increase of about 556 billion yuan compared to the previous year. Among them, except for Postal Savings Bank, the total consumer loans of the five major state-owned banks increased by more than 16% compared to the previous year.
The six state-owned banks collectively issued over 550 billion yuan in new loans within a year, with five of them achieving a growth rate of over 16% in consumer loans.
Have the six major state-owned banks continued to increase the issuance of consumer loans over the past year? Judging from their annual reports, the answer is affirmative.
In terms of existing loan portfolios, China Construction Bank (CCB) remains the leader in personal consumer loan scale, with a balance of 683.1 billion yuan at the end of last year. Postal Savings Bank ranked second, with this figure reaching 642.7 billion yuan. Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) ranked third, with related figures amounting to 604.7 billion yuan. The balance of personal consumer loans of Bank of China (BOC) stood at 515.7 billion yuan at the end of last year, while that of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) was 499 billion yuan. Bank of Communications (BOCOM) had the lowest issuance, with this figure being only 395.7 billion yuan at the end of last year. Preliminary statistics show that the total balance of personal consumer loans of the six major state-owned banks at the end of last year was approximately 3.33 trillion yuan.
Compared to the data of the six major state-owned banks last year, CCB added approximately 115.2 billion yuan in personal consumer loans cumulatively last year, Postal Savings Bank added only about 28.8 billion yuan, ABC added approximately 128.3 billion yuan, BOC added about 113.9 billion yuan, ICBC added about 77.8 billion yuan, and BOCOM added about 55.5 billion yuan. In terms of growth rates, only Postal Savings Bank saw single-digit growth in its personal consumer loan balance last year, while the other five major banks achieved growth rates above 16%.
At recent earnings meetings, some bank executives provided explanations. Tang Shuo, Vice President of CCB, stated that in terms of financial support to enhance consumption, CCB mainly undertook three key initiatives: First, actively strengthening commerce and financial collaboration and coordinating efforts to promote consumption activities; Second, taking proactive measures to implement a comprehensive set of fiscal and financial policies aimed at boosting domestic demand; Third, focusing on key areas of consumption and increasing financial support and innovation efforts.
Recently, several banks have disclosed information on fiscal subsidies for consumer loans last year through their annual reports and announcements. ICBC’s annual report revealed that the bank systematically advanced the work of fiscal subsidies for personal consumer loans, signing subsidy service agreements with approximately 1.9 million customers and processing subsidies for over 30 million eligible consumer expenditures. BOCOM announced that it implemented the fiscal subsidy policy for personal consumer loans, signing subsidy agreements with 1.4642 million customers, covering a subsidizable consumption amount of 16.25 billion yuan. ABC recently announced that currently, 2 million customers have signed subsidy agreements, with subsidies provided to over 850,000 customers cumulatively.
Last year, the new issuance of consumer loans by the six major banks was insufficient to offset the collapse in mortgage loans. Industry insiders believe that newly issued consumer loans may lose momentum this year.
So, how should we interpret the fact that most state-owned banks increased the scale of their personal consumer loan issuances last year?
In this regard, a representative from a state-owned bank told reporters that on the one hand, against the backdrop of increasing difficulty in issuing personal mortgage loans, large banks have had to lower their focus and compete with urban commercial banks and other major players in consumer lending to find credit growth opportunities. On the other hand, it is also related to the special action plan introduced by relevant departments to boost consumption. “The profit margin for consumer loans is very limited, but we must also provide more support to stimulate domestic demand.”
Cailian Press reporters noted that in terms of total loan volume, last year’s increase in consumer loans issued by the six largest banks was clearly insufficient to offset the collapse in mortgage lending — the gap between the amount of consumer loans issued and the reduction in mortgages by the six largest banks was approximately 160 billion yuan. Moreover, compared to mortgage rates, the interest rates for consumer loans are significantly lower.
Will banks continue to increase the issuance of consumer loans this year? In response, representatives from several state-owned large banks and urban commercial banks told reporters that they would closely monitor national policies and make timely issuances. However, regarding the overall growth rate of consumer loans this year, they were “not very optimistic.”
“The recent rectification of industries such as consumer finance and loan assistance will have a certain degree of impact on consumer loan businesses.” A banking representative told reporters that although many banks have consumer finance subsidiaries, in order to further expand consumer lending, many banks previously collaborated with other institutions (such as loan assistance agencies) to issue loans. However, with changing circumstances, more banks are opting to independently issue consumer loans and reduce external dependencies, which will somewhat affect the rapid scaling up of consumer loans. Additionally, in recent years, especially last year, there has been an increase in non-performing personal consumer loans, prompting banks to adopt a more cautious and conservative approach this year due to risk management considerations.
“This year, our bank has not set any growth targets for consumer loan distribution. Furthermore, joint lending has been completely halted. In marketing efforts this year, we will focus more on high-quality customer segments such as those with housing fund accounts.” A representative from a listed bank told reporters that, due to multiple factors, it is expected that the banking sector’s issuance of personal consumer loans this year will not see significant growth compared to the previous year, and the growth rate will also decline.