RuiFeng Bank's operational resilience is highlighted, with net interest income significantly increased

Shanghai Securities News China Securities Network, March 26 evening, Ruifeng Bank disclosed its 2025 annual report. Against the backdrop of persistently low interest rates and intensifying competition among banks, this Zhejiang-based listed rural commercial bank—the only one in the province—has delivered a well-structured, more resilient performance: net interest income increased by 8.33% year over year, driving both revenue and net profit to grow; the net interest margin stopped falling and stabilized; the non-performing loan ratio remained at a low level of 0.99%; and the provision coverage ratio reached 326.51%, highlighting the bank’s operational resilience.

The significance of these results goes beyond “stability.” Looking into the operational logic behind the performance, Ruifeng Bank is moving from strengthening its core fundamentals toward proactively cultivating growth engines. On the one hand, “four arrows”—the regional incremental contributions from Yiwu, Yuecheng, Binhai, and Shengzhou continue to be released, and its “one base, four arrows” development strategy has shifted from the deployment phase to the pay-off phase. On the other hand, the bank is accelerating the expansion of diversified profit sources; its “second growth curve” has started to show results and has become an important driver supporting its operational resilience.

Revenue and net profit grow in tandem; net interest income rises markedly

Against the backdrop of industry-wide pressure on operating revenue and the growing challenge of margin compression, Ruifeng Bank’s operating efficiency saw steady improvement. In 2025, the bank achieved operating income of RMB 4.408 billion, up 0.53%; and net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of RMB 1.966 billion, up 2.30%, maintaining an overall steady growth trend. Meanwhile, the significant increase in net interest income became the core driver supporting profit growth. For the full year, net interest income rose 8.33% year over year, effectively offsetting various pressures brought by industry transformation.

The business scale also grew steadily, laying a solid foundation for the growth in net interest income. As of the end of 2025, Ruifeng Bank’s total assets were RMB 241.495 billion, up RMB 20.992 billion from the beginning of the year, a growth rate of 9.52%; total deposits were RMB 178.099 billion, up RMB 15.408 billion from the beginning of the year, a growth rate of 9.47%; and total loans were RMB 141.206 billion, up RMB 10.246 billion from the beginning of the year, a growth rate of 7.82%.

The bank achieved notable effectiveness in net interest margin management, with the net interest margin stabilizing after halting its decline. In 2025, facing the industry’s general challenge of falling interest margins, Ruifeng Bank continued to promote optimization of its asset-liability structure and strengthen fine-grained management of the net interest margin. As of the end of 2025, its net interest margin was 1.50%, unchanged from the previous year, successfully achieving stabilization of the margin.

On the liability side, Ruifeng Bank continued to focus on “reducing costs.” On the one hand, it complied with policy guidance to optimize the liability structure, promoted the transformation and upgrading of the deposit business, and reasonably controlled the cost of liabilities. On the other hand, it flexibly adjusted deposit product interest rates, strengthened the expansion of demand deposits, and increased the share of low-cost funding. As the relevant measures gradually took effect, the bank’s deposit interest expense rate improved significantly. In 2025, Ruifeng Bank’s deposit interest expense rate was 1.83%, down 37 basis points from the previous year, effectively offsetting downward pressure on asset-side yield.

On the asset side, it advanced along two lines—“structural optimization + improving returns.” The bank increased its deployment in areas related to the “five themes of financial services.” As of the end of 2025, the outstanding balance of loans to technology-based enterprises grew 12.24% year over year; green loan balances grew 32.85%; inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises grew 10.42%; and loans to core industries of the digital economy grew 56.44%. Meanwhile, the effects of reducing low-yield assets gradually became evident. In 2025, Ruifeng Bank’s full-year average daily balance of bill discounting decreased 24.98% year over year, leading to a marginal narrowing of the decline in loan yields and further optimizing the asset-side return structure.

Growth momentum continues to be released; “four arrows” show outstanding incremental contribution

Ruifeng Bank’s steady and robust growth in earnings is inseparable from the continuous release of growth momentum. By deeply implementing the regional development strategy of “one base, four arrows,” accelerating the expansion of diversified profit points, and driving the rollout and effectiveness of the “second growth curve,” the bank has built a solid yet dynamic operating system through multiple efforts, demonstrating strong momentum for high-quality development in small and medium-sized banks.

Among them, the regional development strategy of “one base, four arrows” has become a key support. Ruifeng Bank said that its “one base”—the Keqiao headquarters—continues to intensify efforts in its existing customer base, keeping the core fundamentals stable. The “four arrows” regions, meanwhile, are accelerating differentiated layout to form a growth pattern with efforts in multiple areas: the Yiwu segment focuses on cross-border finance; the Yuecheng segment builds a “government-banks-research-commerce” coordinated ecosystem; the Binhai segment strengthens linkage across the industrial chain and between the public and private sectors; and the Shengzhou segment deepens its focus on county-level and community scenarios.

Based on data, the “four arrows” show outstanding incremental contribution. As of the end of 2025, the total loan amounts in the four regions—Yiwu, Yuecheng, Binhai, and Shengzhou—had increased by RMB 3.995 billion compared with the beginning of the year, accounting for 38.99% of new loans. Total deposits increased by RMB 5.812 billion compared with the beginning of the year, accounting for 37.73% of incremental deposits. The “four arrows” regions achieved operating income of RMB 1.220 billion, up 8.56% year over year, and the share of total operating income increased by 2.05 percentage points. Among them, the Yiwu segment’s advantage in international business was particularly prominent: the bank’s annual international settlement volume reached USD 6.088 billion, accounting for 63.21% of the bank’s total, up 15.58 percentage points year over year.

At the same time, Ruifeng Bank is speeding up the cultivation of diversified profit models, and its “second growth curve” has started to show initial results.

Wealth management business has become an important growth driver. As of the end of 2025, Ruifeng Bank’s wealth management business scale reached RMB 28.187 billion, up RMB 6.311 billion from the beginning of the year. Within that, the scale of distribution of wealth management products grew 68.03%. For the full year, fee income from wealth management business was RMB 178 million, up 18.13% year over year.

International business also exhibits a “leap-forward development” characteristic, transitioning from traditional cross-border settlement to diversified, integrated, and scenario-based services. In 2025, the bank had 2,078 effective international business customers, with settlement volume of USD 9.631 billion, up 49.41% year over year. Foreign exchange derivatives business accelerated in expansion, with a signed scale of USD 980 million. At the same time, through models such as “letter of credit + forfaiting + secondary resale,” it achieved breakthroughs in asset-light, high-turnover business, and the related income increased 303% year over year.

In addition, Ruifeng Bank deepened integrated financing services and drove the shift from single credit provision toward “financing + settlement + scenarios.” As of the end of 2025, the balance of corporate integrated financing (FPA) was RMB 115.779 billion, up 20.87%. Among this, the scale of non-traditional financing reached RMB 18.007 billion, up 28.78% from the beginning of the year; its share within FPA continued to rise, further optimizing the business mix.

Overall, while stabilizing the core fundamentals of its traditional businesses, Ruifeng Bank has gradually built a more resilient growth system through deepening regional strategies, optimizing its asset-liability structure, and expanding diversified businesses. Against the backdrop of sustained low interest rates and ongoing transformation pressure in the industry, its “steady progress while seeking advancement” development path and the results of its structural adjustments may provide a reference-worthy sample for small and medium-sized banks.