Public bank employees' expenses "Review": CITIC leads with an average of 600k yuan, while the top three executive salaries come from Ping An and China Minsheng Bank

Interface News reporter | He Liuying

Interface News editor | Wang Shu

In 2025, what level did bank employees’ expense costs reach at each institution?

An Interface News reporter conducted statistics using data from 15 A-share listed banks (state-owned banks + joint-stock banks). It found that over the past year, executive compensation and employee expenses both rose in some cases and fell in others. For some banks, the average employee expense growth rate exceeded 4%, while for others the decline reached 10%, showing that the resolve to cut costs was fairly firm.

In addition, many banks continue to implement “reverse wage recovery.” The targets of “wage recovery” include not only ordinary employees but also executives. For example, at Bank of China (601988.SH, 03988.HK), the cumulative “reverse wage recovery” amount over 3 years reached the hundred-million-yuan level.

Amid industry-environment pressures, it is expected that cost reduction and efficiency improvement will remain the focus for banks. Tian Lihui, Dean of the Institute of Financial Development at Nankai University, told an Interface News reporter that banks will “reduce costs” when it comes to compensation expenses, but absolutely not through a one-size-fits-all, blanket cut. Instead, it shows highly structured characteristics. Judging from the industry background, in 2025 the banking industry faces operating pressures such as narrowing interest-rate spreads and intensifying competition. Most banks are seeking a balance between “cost reduction and efficiency improvement” and “talent retention.” Against this backdrop, “cost reduction” is not simply understood as reducing the overall amount; it is a deep adjustment to the structure of compensation expenses. This can be summarized as “controlling executives, adjusting the structure, and emphasizing effectiveness.”

“On ‘controlling executives,’ due to regulatory policies such as compensation guidance, banks’ executives’ compensation will face tighter restrictions and requirements for deferred payment. On ‘adjusting the structure,’ banks will tilt compensation expense resources toward front-office business and first-line marketing positions, to incentivize ‘revenue-generating’ units. On ‘emphasizing effectiveness,’ with the development of financial technology, some back-office support roles may be replaced. Meanwhile, employees who master hard-core technology or have strong customer resources may see their market value rise even further. Therefore, the future trend is that the overall compensation expense structure will become more reasonable, and ‘differentiating by person and by position’ will become the norm.” Tian Lihui told an Interface News reporter.

CITIC Bank: average employee expenses of 600,000; the advantage of joint-stock banks continues to stand out

An Interface News reporter calculated compensation expense data by dividing employee expenses (based on the employee expense figures in annual reports, which typically include wages, bonuses, allowances and subsidies, defined contribution plans, housing provident funds, etc.) by the number of employees (using the average of the end-of-year and beginning-of-year figures). The reporter compiled compensation expense data for 15 A-share listed banks.

Listed banks’ employee expenses situation Data source: bank annual reports, Wind Data compiled by: He Liuying

On a year-over-year basis, among the 15 banks, 4 banks saw their average employee expenses decline. Among them, China Everbright Bank (601818.SH, 06818.HK) saw a sharp year-over-year drop of 10%. The bank’s overall employee expenses also fell significantly, decreasing from 22.263 billion in 2024 by 10% to 20.101 billion. Zhejiang Chouzhou Bank (601916.SH, 02016.HK) decreased by 9%, but still held an average level of 500,000 yuan.

Most other banks’ average employee expenses achieved year-over-year growth of within 3%. There were two banks with increases exceeding 4%: Huaxia Bank (600015.SH) and Agricultural Bank of China (601288.SH, 01288.HK). Looking at the differences: in 2025, Huaxia Bank’s total employee expenses declined, mainly because the reduction in employee headcount drove the increase in average employee expenses. Agricultural Bank of China, meanwhile, achieved a clear overall increase of 5.55% in total employee expenses.

In absolute terms, in 2025, CITIC Bank (601998.SH, 09988.HK) continued to lead in average employee expenses, reaching 600,000 yuan. Following it were joint-stock banks such as China Merchants Bank (600036.SH, 03968.HK), Industrial Bank (601166.SH), Zhejiang Chouzhou Bank, and China Minsheng Bank (600016.SH, 01988.HK). Their full-year average employee expenses all exceeded 500,000 yuan, further highlighting the advantage of joint-stock banks.

For state-owned banks, Bank of Communications (601328.SH, 03328.HK) was more competitive. In 2025, its average employee expenses were 45.48 million yuan, making it the only state-owned bank with average expenses exceeding 400,000 yuan. After that were Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank (601939.SH, 00939.HK), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SH, 01398.HK), and Postal Savings Bank of China (601658.SH, 01658.HK), all at around 300,000 yuan.

Tian Lihui told an Interface News reporter that the advantage of joint-stock banks is the result of the combined effect of their business models and talent strategies. “From industry data, listed joint-stock banks and city commercial banks have per-capita compensation expense levels among the top in the banking industry. Their competitiveness comes from three aspects. First, they have a higher degree of market-orientation. Joint-stock banks’ employment mechanisms are more flexible. To attract and retain core talent capable of creating high value, they must use compensation expense levels with market competitiveness as the foundation.”

“Second is the difference in per-capita efficiency. Employees and branches of joint-stock banks are relatively concentrated and are mostly located in China’s major cities. The elite teams that these high value-added businesses depend on generally have per-capita profit-creation levels higher than the industry average, providing financial support for high compensation expense packages. Finally, there is the advantage in business structure. Compared with state-owned banks that rely more on net interest income, joint-stock banks have a higher proportion of non-interest income, and their profit structure relies more heavily on light-capital businesses such as investment banking and wealth management. These businesses have higher revenue conversion rates, and are able to provide more flexible compensation expense packages.” Tian Lihui added to an Interface News reporter.

Executive compensation increases and decreases; Bank of China’s “reverse wage recovery” exceeds 100 million yuan over 3 years

In terms of executive compensation, joint-stock banks are also at the forefront of the industry.

Wind already has data showing that directors whose compensation reaches more than 2 million yuan are mostly concentrated at Ping An Bank (000001.SZ), China Minsheng Bank, China Merchants Bank, and CITIC Bank.

Joint-stock banks’ advantages in executive compensation are clear Image source: Wind

Among them, even though Ping An Bank’s President Ji Guangheng reduced compensation by 150,000 yuan year over year, he still secured a top-tier position in the industry with 4 million yuan in compensation.

Also in the “million-yuan compensation” group are China Minsheng Bank’s Chairman Gao Yingxin, whose compensation is 3.292 million yuan; China Minsheng Bank’s Vice Chairman and President Wang Xiaoyong, whose compensation is 321.08 million yuan; China Minsheng Bank’s Vice President Zhang Juntong, whose compensation is 298.89 million yuan; China Merchants Bank’s President Wang Liang, whose compensation is 297.05 million yuan; the compensation that Lu Wei, who assumed the position of President and Executive Director of Postal Savings Bank of China as of February 13, 2026, earned in 2025 at CITIC Bank was 226.96 million yuan. In addition, for city commercial bank Qingdao Bank (002948.SZ, 03866.HK), Chairman Jing Zailun’s compensation also reached the 2 million yuan level, at 211.85 million yuan.

For comparison, directors and chairman-level executives at large state-owned banks have compensation basically below 1 million yuan, mostly around 900,000 yuan.

The chairman compensation at large state-owned banks is basically below 1 million yuan Image source: Wind

On a year-over-year basis, executive compensation at multiple banks increases and decreases. It is worth noting that many banks mention that the relevant executive compensation is still pending disclosure. For example, China Merchants Bank stated that the total pre-tax compensation of executive directors and senior management fulfilling their full pay-and-performance duties is still in the process of being confirmed; the remaining portions will be disclosed separately after confirmation and payment.

At the same time, the “reverse wage recovery” phenomenon at banks remains active. According to Bank of China’s annual report, in 2025 the bank carried out pursuit to recover and claw back amounts for 4,630 person-times, with an amount of 47.178 million yuan. This is not the first time Bank of China has implemented “reverse wage recovery.” In 2024, the bank carried out pursuit to recover and claw back for 2,469 person-times, with a total amount of 32.5 million yuan; in 2023, it carried out pursuit to recover and claw back for 2,059 person-times, with a total amount of 22.75 million yuan. This means that over the 3-year period, the amount recovered and clawed back by Bank of China through pursuit exceeded 100 million yuan.

Bank of China said the company has formulated a system for clawing back performance-based compensation. For example, if risk losses within duties are exposed at an abnormal level during employment, the bank may partially or fully recover the corresponding performance-based compensation already paid during the relevant period, and stop payment of the portion that has not yet been paid. The bank implements performance-based compensation clawback strictly every year in accordance with regulatory requirements and related systems.

Executives were also not spared. This year in February, CCB issued an announcement stating that it approved a proposal regarding the report on the clawback of 2025 performance-based compensation. In 2025, there were 17 person-times of clawback of performance-based compensation among headquarter management cadres and personnel at corresponding levels, involving an amount of 1.99 million yuan.

Tian Lihui told an Interface News reporter that “reverse wage recovery” has evolved from a one-off incident into a regular risk-control method in the banking industry, and it has considerable prevalence. The essence of this system is the implementation of the “risk-based compensation” concept. Its theoretical logic lies in breaking the incentive distortion in the financial industry where “profits belong to the institution/individual, while losses belong to the public.”

“Previously, bank employees could share high performance bonuses during periods of business expansion, but the lag in risk exposure meant that once bad debts arose, responsibility was borne by the bank. The performance-based compensation clawback system forces a time-based matching of risk costs and personal incentives, ensuring that rights and responsibilities are equal. The widespread implementation of this system is a key step in taking the banking industry’s risk management from a ‘pre-emptive constraint’ approach to a ‘post-event accountability’ closed loop. It helps curb excessive risk-taking by practitioners and maintain the long-term soundness of financial institutions.” Tian Lihui told an Interface News reporter.

A massive amount of information and precise interpretation—available in the Sina Finance app