Senior executives of Ping An Bank said on Monday they remain bullish over its business outlook, despite facing a challenging macroeconomic environment and a reduction in interest rates.

The Shenzhen-based lender generated 69.385 billion yuan ($9.7 billion) in operating revenue in the first half, a year-on-year decline of 10 percent, according to its 2025 interim results announcement. Net profit dropped 3.9 percent on a yearly basis to 24.87 billion yuan in the same period.

Net interest margin of the bank stood at 1.8 percent, a decrease of 16 basis points compared with the same period last year. The change reflects banks’ growing difficulty in balancing the returns on the asset side and the costs on the liability side amid the current downward cycle of market interest rates.

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“We think 2025 will be our most challenging year, but some indicators in the first half have already shown positive trends,” said Ji Guangheng, president of the bank. “We believe the difficulties are gradually easing.”

Although operating revenue and net profit continued to decrease in the first six months, the decline narrowed 3.1 basis points and 1.7 basis points, respectively, from the first quarter.

Non-performing loan ratio of the bank also decreased from 1.06 percent at the end of last year to 1.05 percent as of the end of June.

“We will further deepen the innovation of product and service models, accelerate the optimization of customer structure and strengthen internal collaboration,” Ji said.

He noted that the bank will focus more on economically developed regions with high economic vitality and strong credit demand, and increase resource investment and policy support in those areas.

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“As the domestic economy continues to improve, we will maintain the positive trend (of our business) and lay a solid foundation for further improvement in our performance.”

Zhou Qiang, secretary of the board, said Ping An will strike a delicate balance between shareholder returns and capital needs to ensure that investors can share the achievements of the bank.

Ping An Bank announced an interim dividend of 2.36 yuan per 10 shares (including tax), with the total cash dividend distribution amounting to 4.58 billion yuan.

Contact the writer at sally@chinadailyhk.com