Bank of China Ltd. posted modest profit growth in the first three quarters of 2025, marking a turnaround driven by a stronger third quarter and a stabilizing net interest margin—an early sign that the worst may be over for the state-owned lender in a persistently low-rate environment, reports Caixin. The Beijing-based bank said Tuesday that net profit attributable to shareholders rose 1.1% year-over-year to RMB 177.7 billion ($24.9 billion) for the January-September period. That reversed declines recorded in the first half of the year and was largely supported by a 5.1% rise in third-quarter net income to RMB 60.1 billion.
Operating revenue for the period climbed 2.7% to RMB 491.2 billion.
As the first of China’s “Big Four” state-owned banks to report earnings this quarter, Bank of China’s results offer an early look at how the country’s largest lenders are weathering a profitability squeeze brought on by repeated policy-driven rate cuts and mandates to fuel credit growth. The lender’s net interest margin (NIM)—a key profitability metric—held steady at 1.3% at the end of September, unchanged from the end of June. That follows more than a year of consistent decline.