Amid a cyclical shift in the city commercial banking sector back toward corporate lending as a primary growth driver, Chongqing Bank has once again delivered an impressive set of results. On August 20, the bank (601963.SH; 1963.HK) released its 2026 interim report, showing first-half operating revenue of 8.486 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.79%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 3.518 billion yuan, up 10.29% year-on-year. Not only did both revenue and net profit hit record highs for a first-half period, but the bank also achieved a historic milestone of surpassing one trillion yuan in total assets on both a consolidated and parent-company basis.
Notably, on a single-quarter basis, Chongqing Bank is currently the only A-share listed bank to have achieved "double-digit growth" in both revenue and net profit for four consecutive quarters. Against a backdrop of generally narrowing industry-wide interest margins, the bank's net interest margin (NIM) bucked the trend, rising 7 basis points to 1.46%.
Scale and Profitability Achieve a "Dual Leap," Regional Focus Drives High-Quality Balance Sheet Expansion
During the first half of 2026, Chongqing Bank's asset base continued its steady growth from a high base. At the end of the reporting period, the group's total assets stood at 1.11 trillion yuan, while the bank's own total assets reached 1.04 trillion yuan, representing increases of 7.27% and 6.86% respectively compared to the end of 2025. This marks a historic dual milestone, with both the group and parent company surpassing the trillion-yuan asset threshold in the first half of 2026, following the bank's initial breakthrough in 2025.
During the same period, total loans reached 582.459 billion yuan, up 9.63% from the end of the previous year, while total deposits grew 10.87% to 627.202 billion yuan. Deposit growth outpacing loan growth has provided ample low-cost funding reserves for future credit expansion. The "double-digit growth" on the profitability front is particularly noteworthy. In the first half, the bank not only set new first-half records for both revenue and attributable net profit but also demonstrated sustained improvement in earnings quality, with annualized weighted average ROE rising 0.51 percentage points year-on-year to 12.03%.
Among A-share listed banks that have released their 2026 interim reports, Chongqing Bank and Ningbo Bank are the only two city commercial banks with revenue and net profit growth exceeding 10%. Of these, Chongqing Bank's four consecutive quarters of double-digit growth in both metrics further underscores its earnings resilience. Behind this growth in scale and profitability lies the bank's deep commitment to the regional economy and active support for the real economy. According to the interim report, the bank has focused on major strategies and key sectors, increasing credit support for areas such as the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and the construction of a western financial center. In the first half, it provided over 140 billion yuan in credit support for the economic circle and maintained a financing balance exceeding 60 billion yuan for the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor initiative.
On the retail front, personal time deposits grew 15.32% in the first half, while retail loans contracted by 8.43% year-on-year. Addressing the contraction, a bank representative stated at the August 25 earnings briefing that the decline in retail loans was primarily due to insufficient market demand, with retail credit entering a "weak demand cycle," which in turn pressured retail loan volumes. "Moving forward, we will focus on two main priorities—customer base management and structural optimization—to deepen our transformation and drive high-quality retail business development. First, we will refine customer service, enhance our digital operations capabilities, introduce intelligent operational tools, and build a 'smart operations' system to improve retail customer management efficiency. Second, we will deepen our core market presence, promote business quality and volume growth, maintain stable and high-quality liability scale, optimize the liability structure, and focus on wealth management transformation to enhance overall returns," the representative said.
NIM Stabilizes and Rebounds, Asset Quality Strengthens, Liability Cost Control Unlocks Profit Potential
If the "dual leap" in scale and profitability represents the visible achievements of Chongqing Bank's interim report, then the counter-trend widening of its interest margin and continuous optimization of asset quality form the substance behind these results. Industry-wide, there are clear signs of stabilization in Chinese banks' net interest margins. Data from the National Financial Regulatory Administration shows that commercial banks' NIM in the second quarter stood at 1.41%, up 1 basis point from 1.40% in the first quarter—the first quarter-on-quarter rebound since the first quarter of 2022. City commercial banks, in particular, led the recovery with a NIM of 1.40%, up 2 basis points from the previous quarter.
Despite this stabilization trend, some listed banks have still reported narrowing margins. Chongqing Bank, however, saw its NIM rise 7 basis points year-on-year to 1.46% in the first half. This rapid recovery is attributed to a greater reduction in liability-side costs compared to the asset side. The interim report shows that the bank's average interest-earning assets reached 1.02 trillion yuan in the first half of 2026, up 19.73% year-on-year, while the average yield on interest-earning assets declined 36 basis points to 3.28%. Meanwhile, average interest-bearing liabilities stood at 987.615 billion yuan, up 17.81% year-on-year, with the average cost rate on interest-bearing liabilities falling 41 basis points to 1.88%. According to Wind data, among listed banks that have released interim reports, most saw their liability cost rates decline by around 30 basis points year-on-year, while Chongqing Bank's 41-basis-point reduction outpaced its peers.
Regarding future NIM expectations, Chongqing Bank management indicated at the earnings briefing that in the second half of the year, the bank will continue to increase loan disbursement, optimize its asset-liability structure, and reduce liability costs, projecting that the full-year NIM will maintain its year-on-year recovery trend. With rapid asset expansion and a stabilizing interest margin, the bank's net interest income grew 26.04% year-on-year in the first half. This included 12.8% growth in the first quarter and a significant acceleration to 41.3% in the second quarter, highlighting the effectiveness of the bank's refined asset-liability management. In an environment where the industry broadly faces margin compression, this superior cost control capability is poised to become a core competitive advantage, supporting strong earnings resilience in the future.
It is worth noting that Chongqing Bank's net fee and commission income declined 11.81% overall in the first half, with agency wealth management income down 30.66%, which the bank attributed to lower wealth management product management fees and excess returns compared to the same period last year. However, on a quarterly basis, Q2 fee and commission net income reached 171 million yuan, up 17.79% year-on-year and 13.66% quarter-on-quarter, with growth turning positive in both cases. This marks an early sign that the bank's reliance on net interest income as its sole growth engine is beginning to ease. If this fee income recovery trend persists into the second half, it will further support overall revenue growth.
The improving performance has also translated into positive returns for shareholders. As of August 25, Chongqing Bank's A-share price closed at 11.20 yuan per share, while its H-share price closed at HK$8.410, posting year-to-date gains of over 8% and 10% respectively—outperforming the Shanghai Composite Index (down 2.4% year-to-date) and the Hang Seng Index (down 3.43%). From achieving double-digit growth in both profit and revenue to surpassing the trillion-yuan asset threshold, Chongqing Bank has successfully leveraged its corporate banking strength during this cyclical shift. The next challenge—elevating both ROE and valuation—will test its comprehensive operational capabilities. As the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle enters an accelerated development phase, Chongqing Bank, with the most complete coverage across the "one municipality and three provinces" region, is well-positioned to continue benefiting from regional strategic dividends, providing long-term momentum for sustained double-digit growth in both scale and profitability.