China Bank Net Interest Margin Rebounds to 1.41%; Non-Listed Insurers' Profit Jumps 81.75%

Data on major regulatory indicators for the banking and insurance sectors in the second quarter of 2026 show that the banking sector stabilised in the first half, with commercial banks' net interest margin rebounding for the first time in four years. The Q2 net interest margin was 1.41%, up 1 basis point from 1.4% in Q1, marking the first quarterly increase since it fell below 2% in Q1 2022. In the first half, commercial banks booked a cumulative net profit of RMB 1.2 trillion, roughly flat from the same period in 2025, a clear recovery from the 3.7% year-on-year decline in Q1 net profit.

Specific bank data show that in the first half of 2026, many listed banks posted gains in both revenue and profit. Jiangsu Bank recorded a net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 21.876 billion, up 8.09% year on year; Shanghai Pudong Development Bank reported a net profit of RMB 30.951 billion, up 4.08%. In the insurance sector, 135 non-listed insurers together earned about RMB 70.7 billion in net profit in the first half, up approximately 81.75% year on year, driven by improving investment returns and lower channel costs.

Listed insurers all indicated pre-increases in their earnings forecasts. During the same period, gross written premiums totalled RMB 3.9 trillion, up 3.2% year on year; claims and benefits paid reached RMB 1.4 trillion, up 3.8%; and the number of new policies issued was 66.8 billion, up 27.4% from a year earlier, an addition of about 14.4 billion policies compared with the same period in 2025, reflecting sustained release of household protection demand.

Efforts to serve the real economy continued to intensify. As of end-Q2, the balance of inclusive small and micro enterprise loans stood at RMB 38.9 trillion, up 8% year on year, an increase of about RMB 2.9 trillion from the same period in 2025; inclusive agriculture-related loans reached RMB 15 trillion, up 7.5%, roughly RMB 1.1 trillion higher than a year earlier. The data indicate that banks' credit extension and insurance protection functions both expanded steadily, underpinning economic operations.