22 Listed Banks' Compensation Battle in 2025: CITIC Bank Average Salary 600k, Four Banks' Executives Take Pay Cuts Over 40%

What Do AI and Salary Changes Indicate About Banking Industry Transformations?

Source: Times Finance Author: Zhang Xinying

As the annual report season reaches its peak, more than half of the listed banks on the A-share market have disclosed their 2025 operating performance. From the financial reports gradually released, we can glimpse the salary trajectory of the banking “golden rice bowl” over the past year.

Times Finance notes that, amid the recent trend of “salary cuts” becoming a keyword in the banking industry, the overall salaries of bank employees in 2025 have not decreased compared to 2024. Wind data shows that, based on the 22 listed banks that have already disclosed their annual reports, the total employee compensation in 2025 is approximately 973.7 billion yuan, a slight increase from 959.7 billion yuan in 2024.

In contrast, the management salaries of banks have significantly shrunk. Wind data indicates that the total executive compensation of listed banks in 2025 is 296 million yuan, a drop of over 20% from 376 million yuan in 2024.

Looking at individual banks, in 2025, China Merchants Bank (600036.SH; 03968.HK) has the highest annual management compensation (including departing personnel), reaching 33.68 million yuan, a decrease of over 5% year-on-year; Zhengzhou Bank (002936.SZ; 06196.HK), Huaxia Bank (600015.SH), Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (600k.SH), and Bank of Communications (601328.SH; 03328.HK) had management compensation totals of 7.62 million yuan, 13.30 million yuan, 8.79 million yuan, and 11.08 million yuan respectively, all decreasing by more than 40% year-on-year.

Image source: TuChong Creative

Joint-stock banks lead in per capita salaries

Although the banking industry as a whole is tightening its belt, in terms of per capita salaries, the most generous are joint-stock banks. Among the 22 listed banks that have disclosed financial reports, the top five in per capita salary are all joint-stock banks, with four exceeding 500k yuan annually.

Among them, CITIC Bank (601998.SH) ranks first with a per capita salary of over 600,000 yuan. Wind data shows that CITIC Bank’s per capita salary in 2025 is 609.1k yuan, a slight increase from 601.4k yuan in 2024; China Merchants Bank follows with 575.3k yuan, a decrease of about 7,200 yuan compared to 2024.

Besides these two joint-stock banks, Industrial Bank (601166.SH) and Zhejiang Commercial Bank (601916.SH) also had per capita salaries exceeding 500k yuan in 2025.

Image source: Wind

However, some joint-stock banks saw a significant decline in per capita salaries compared to 2024. Take Everbright Bank (601818.SH; 06818.HK) as an example: in 2025, its per capita salary is about 439.8k yuan, down more than 30k yuan from 2024; Zhejiang Commercial Bank’s per capita salary in 2025 is 532.4k yuan, also dropping by over 30k yuan compared to the previous year.

Why do joint-stock banks dominate in salary levels among listed banks? In this regard, Fu Yifu, a special researcher at Su Commercial Bank, explained to Times Finance that the salary advantage of joint-stock banks mainly stems from their higher market-oriented mechanisms, flexible profit structures, and talent competition strategies.

“Joint-stock banks tend to rely more on market competition, focusing on high-value-added areas like retail and investment banking. Their incentive mechanisms are directly linked to performance, and to attract top financial talent, they often offer more competitive salaries,” Fu Yifu said.

As for large state-owned banks, the salary “ceiling” is represented by Bank of Communications. Wind data shows that in 2025, Bank of Communications leads the six major banks with an average annual salary of 461.1k yuan per person, and it is the only state-owned bank with per capita salaries exceeding 400k yuan; the other state banks—Bank of China (601988.SH; 03988.HK), Agricultural Bank of China (601288.SH; 01288.HK), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SH; 01398.HK), China Construction Bank (601939.SH; 00939.HK), and Postal Savings Bank (601658.SH; 01658.HK)—all have per capita annual salaries around 300k yuan.

Image source: Wind

Looking at the trend, among the six major banks, China Bank, Agricultural Bank, and ICBC saw slight increases in per capita salaries in 2025 compared to 2024, with Agricultural Bank also increasing its staff and salaries. Financial reports show that in 2025, Agricultural Bank’s total employees increased to 457,835, up 3,119 from 2024.

In this regard, Fu Yifu analyzed to Times Finance that compared to joint-stock banks, large state-owned banks bear more social responsibilities, have more traditional business structures, and their salary systems are more affected by policy regulation; city commercial banks and rural commercial banks are limited by regional economies and generally have smaller profit scales.

Many bank executives saw salaries drop by over 20%

In recent earnings release conferences, some bank management also discussed the implementation of salary reforms.

At the 2025 performance briefing, CITIC Bank’s management stated that in recent years, the bank has implemented a series of reforms and innovations in optimizing incentive mechanisms and building talent teams. Regarding salary system reform, the bank has optimized its salary structure, designed it from top to bottom, reasonably determined salary levels at all levels, continued to adhere to performance orientation, rewarded the good and penalized the bad, and allowed those who work harder and perform better to earn more.

At the management level, CITIC Bank said it will “continue to strengthen the linkage between salaries, performance, and assessments, fully exerting motivational and constraining effects.”

From the disclosed financial data, except for Everbright Bank, Ping An Bank (000001.SZ), and Industrial Bank, the management salaries of other banks in 2025 have decreased compared to 2024.

Among them, China Merchants Bank’s management annual salary (including departing personnel) remains the highest at 33.68 million yuan, down over 5% year-on-year. Additionally, the total executive compensation of many banks has fallen by more than 20%, with Zhengzhou Bank, Huaxia Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, and Bank of Communications seeing declines of over 40% year-on-year.

Behind the reduction in executive salaries, the overall performance of listed banks in 2025 has shown steady growth, and the logic of industry fundamentals improving is becoming clearer. Times Finance summarized that among the 22 listed banks that have disclosed financial reports, 17 have achieved both revenue and net profit growth. Among them, large state-owned banks have delivered double growth, such as Qingdao Bank (002948.SZ; 03866.HK) and Chongqing Bank (601963.SH), which lead with double-digit growth rates. Only some joint-stock banks still face significant performance pressure, with Ping An Bank, Zhejiang Commercial Bank, Everbright Bank, and Huaxia Bank experiencing revenue declines of over 5%.

Industry insiders believe that salary changes also signal industry transformation and differentiation.

“On one hand, the sharp decline in executive salaries reflects the trend of strengthening governance and reducing costs and increasing efficiency in the financial sector, aligning with regulatory guidance and profit pressures; on the other hand, the overall stability of per capita salaries coupled with increasing internal differentiation indicates that banks are paying more attention to structural adjustments—joint-stock banks maintain high salaries to stay competitive and promote innovation, while large state-owned banks steadily increase salaries to optimize incentives,” Fu Yifu told Times Finance.

He also believes this indicates that the banking industry is shifting from scale expansion to refined management, and in the future, salary systems will be more closely linked to performance and transformation outcomes, with the potential further strengthening of the Matthew effect in the industry.