China Merchants Bank Co Ltd

XMUN:M4B

Performance: CMB reported first-half net operating income of CNY 178.135 billion, up 4.83% year-on-year, while net profit attributable to shareholders rose 2.02% to CNY 76.445 billion.

Margins: Net interest margin declined 5 bps year-on-year to 1.83%, although management said the decline is narrowing and expects NIM to become more stable after the most difficult period has passed.

Growth: Loan growth slowed as credit demand weakened and retail loan risks increased. Management said second-half loan growth would likely remain around the current level of approximately 5%, rather than pursue scale at the expense of asset quality.

Wealth Management: Retail AUM exceeded CNY 18 trillion, up 7.96% from year-end 2025, with 85% of growth coming from non-deposit assets. Wealth management and fee income benefited from mutual funds, trust products, pension and cross-border activity.

Asset Quality: The overall NPL ratio remained stable at 0.94%, but retail loan risks continued to rise, with the retail NPL ratio reaching 1.16%. Property lending remains a key corporate risk area despite improving indicators.

AI: AI deployment expanded across customer service, credit and internal operations. Management cited 13.88 million equivalent employee working hours of efficiency gains and faster small-business credit processing.

Strategy: CMB will focus on wealth management, technology finance, cross-border finance, AI-led transformation, key regional branches and disciplined capital and risk management.