Chinese central bank adds Zheshang Bank to systemically important lenders list

The People's Bank of China added China Zheshang Bank Co. Ltd. to its list of domestic systemically important banks, bringing the total to 21.

Zheshang Bank, based in Hangzhou, China, was added to the first of five groups in the domestic systemically important bank list for 2025, according to a Feb. 13 statement by the Chinese central bank and The National Financial Regulatory Administration. The addition increased the number of lenders in the first group to 11 from 10.

Industrial Bank Co. Ltd. was moved down one group to the second tier, alongside China Citic Bank Corp. Ltd., Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. Ltd., and Postal Savings Bank of China Co. Ltd., according to the statement.

The four banks in the highest group held their prior positions in the fourth tier, which includes Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp. and Bank of China Ltd.

Bank of Communications Co. Ltd. and China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. remained in the third group.

Ten other smaller lenders stayed in the first group. They are China Minsheng Banking Corp. Ltd., China Everbright Bank Co. Ltd., Ping An Bank Co. Ltd., Hua Xia Bank Co. Ltd., Bank of Ningbo Co. Ltd., Bank of Jiangsu Co. Ltd., Bank of Beijing Co. Ltd., Bank of Nanjing Co. Ltd., China Guangfa Bank Co. Ltd. and Bank of Shanghai Co. Ltd. Banks are divided into five groups based on their systemic importance scores, from low to high. The fifth group, deemed most systemically important, has no bank.

The 2025 domestic systemically important banks list included six state-owned commercial banks, 10 joint-stock commercial banks and five city commercial banks, according to the statement.

The central bank and the National Financial Regulatory Administration conducted the 2025 assessment of China's systemically important banks based on the Evaluation Measures for Systemically Important Banks, aiming "to establish a comprehensive macro-prudential management framework and strengthen the supervision of systemically important financial institutions."

The regulators will "leverage the synergy between macro-prudential management and micro-prudential supervision, continue to strengthen the additional regulation of systemically important banks, promote their sound operation and healthy development, so as to better serve the high-quality development of the real economy," according to the statement.