Ending Four Years of Consecutive Declines! Has Pufa Bank Reached a Performance Inflection Point?

Question AI · How will the new management team drive SPDB’s performance to rebound from the bottom?

Produced by | China Visitor Network

Reviewed by | Li Xiaoyan

As the first nationwide joint-stock commercial bank to be regulated after the Securities Law was enacted in 1999, SPDB has experienced years of performance pressure and structural adjustment pains. Since the new management team took office in 2024, the bank has focused on strategic reshaping, structural optimization, risk cleanup, and digital intelligence empowerment to promote a comprehensive bottoming out and rebound in operations. The 2025 performance quick report shows that SPDB’s total assets have surpassed 10 trillion yuan, revenue has ended four consecutive years of decline, and net profit has achieved double-digit growth. Asset quality has reached its best level in nearly a decade, officially entering a new stage of coordinated growth in scale and efficiency. Despite ongoing short-term pressures from compliance issues, regulatory penalties, and customer complaints, this longstanding joint-stock bank is steadily advancing on the high-quality development track with firm rectification efforts and a clear growth path.

From 2021 to 2023, influenced by factors such as narrowing interest spreads and exposure to real estate risks, SPDB’s revenue declined consecutively and net profit faced periodic pressure, once being viewed by the market as a “chaser” among joint-stock banks. Facing operational challenges, after the new management team led by Zhang Weizhong and Xie Wei took office in 2024, they quickly launched a series of reforms including digital transformation, credit structure adjustment, non-performing asset cleanup, and refined cost control, achieving significant performance recovery within the year. In 2024, the bank realized a net profit attributable to shareholders of 45.257 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.31%. Excluding one-time equity sale gains, operating income grew by 0.92% year-on-year, reversing the downward trend.

In 2025, SPDB’s growth momentum was further unleashed, delivering a substantial annual report card. Total operating income reached 173.964 billion yuan, up 1.88% year-on-year, ending four consecutive years of revenue decline; net profit attributable to shareholders was 50.017 billion yuan, up 10.52%, returning to steady growth. Notably, by the end of 2025, the group’s total assets reached 10.0817 trillion yuan, a 6.55% increase, successfully entering the “trillion-yuan club” of domestic banks, marking a new level of scale and strength.

The simultaneous improvement in capital strength and asset quality has laid a solid foundation for long-term development. In October 2025, the bank’s 50 billion yuan convertible bonds completed conversion, with the core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio expected to rise by 0.5 percentage points to 9.4%, effectively easing capital constraints and further expanding business space. On the risk management front, SPDB has prioritized “controlling new risks and reducing old ones,” increasing efforts to dispose of existing non-performing assets, and directing credit resources precisely toward strategic sectors such as manufacturing upgrades, green energy, and technological innovation. By the end of 2025, non-performing loans stood at 71.99 billion yuan, a decrease of 1.164 billion yuan year-on-year; the NPL ratio was 1.26%, down 0.10 percentage points from the previous year. The overdue loans over 90 days and 60 days were both kept within 100% of the total, reflecting cautious risk recognition and continuous asset quality improvement, reaching the best level in nearly a decade.

Positioned at a new development stage, SPDB focuses on the “five major articles” of finance—technology finance, supply chain finance, inclusive finance, cross-border finance, and financial assets—driving business transformation from scale expansion to high-quality development, with differentiated competitive advantages increasingly prominent.

Technology finance has become a core growth engine. The bank adheres to its digital intelligence strategy, building a “full-cycle, multi-connection, digital, customizable” technology finance product system, creating the “SPDB Tech 5+7+X” service matrix, providing financial support across the entire lifecycle—from startup to growth to maturity—for tech companies. As of the end of June 2025, the bank served over 240,000 tech enterprises, covering more than 70% of listed companies on the STAR Market and over 80% of strategic emerging industry listed companies. The balance of tech finance loans steadily surpassed one trillion yuan, making it a benchmark among joint-stock banks for technology financial services.

Green finance leads the industry. SPDB innovatively launched the “SPDB Green Innovation” brand, establishing a specialized green finance marketplace, and implementing pioneering projects such as the nation’s first green computing power index-linked loan for data centers and Shanghai’s first transition finance loan. The bank has formed a product system integrating green credit, carbon finance, and transition finance. In the first half of 2025, green loans reached 671.984 billion yuan, a 17.75% increase year-on-year, ranking among the top in joint-stock banks, supporting the realization of the “dual carbon” goals with financial vitality.

Inclusive finance precisely supports the real economy. The bank continues the “Thousand Enterprises and Ten Thousand Households Smart Benefit” campaign, completing the listing of all branch micro and personal loan centers, and leveraging digital tools to improve micro and small enterprise services. By mid-2025, the bank had connected with 44,000 micro and small enterprise clients under its financing coordination mechanism, disbursed loans to 32,000 clients, totaling over 270 billion yuan. The accessibility and coverage of inclusive finance continue to improve, effectively alleviating financing difficulties for small and micro enterprises.

Supply chain finance, cross-border finance, and financial assets are advancing in tandem. Relying on the group’s integrated operation advantages, the bank provides one-stop comprehensive financial services for upstream and downstream industries, cross-border trade enterprises, and high-net-worth clients. The incremental loans in these five major sectors continue to lead in new lending, optimizing the business structure and enhancing development resilience.

While performance has rebounded and strategic upgrades are underway, SPDB also recognizes shortcomings in compliance management and internal control. Since 2025, the bank and several branches have received regulatory penalties for violations in credit management, account clearing, card acquiring, and anti-fraud currency activities, with some fines reaching tens of millions in early 2026, exposing gaps in grassroots risk control and full-process compliance. Customer complaints about credit card services—such as hidden fees, fee disclosure, and collection management—remain high, requiring ongoing improvement in consumer rights protection.

Compliance is the lifeline of the financial industry and the bottom line of high-quality development. In response to regulatory warnings and market concerns, SPDB has shifted from passive rectification to proactive governance, thoroughly reviewing internal control processes based on issues, strengthening the “three checks” of pre-loan investigation, during-loan review, and post-loan inspection, and clarifying compliance responsibilities at branches. The bank also relies on digital tools to upgrade its risk control system, improving the accuracy and timeliness of risk identification, early warning, and handling to prevent compliance risks from the source. Regarding credit card complaints, the bank has optimized fee disclosure mechanisms, standardized marketing and collection behaviors, and effectively protected consumers’ legal rights, continuously enhancing service quality.

From a low-performance period to a new starting point of over 10 trillion yuan, SPDB has completed operational reversal and strategic reshaping within two years, demonstrating the deep heritage and resilience of this longstanding joint-stock bank. Currently, the banking industry is bidding farewell to extensive expansion models and entering a new stage of high-quality development prioritizing compliance and quality. Leveraging asset scale breakthroughs, supported by the five major sectors and compliance reforms, SPDB is accelerating toward becoming a high-quality value bank.

In the future, with deeper digital transformation, sustained capital strength, steady asset quality improvement, and comprehensive compliance system upgrades, SPDB is expected to further unleash growth potential, playing a greater role in serving the real economy, implementing national strategies, and safeguarding financial security. The temporary pains of compliance will ultimately transform into a solid foundation for long-term governance, helping this century-old financial institution to advance steadily on its new journey.