"Investor Network" Cui Yuechen

On the evening of August 30, Bank of Suzhou released its half-year performance report for 2024. In the first half of 2024, Bank of Suzhou steadily moved forward under the strategic guidance of integrated operation, achieving good operational results.

As of the end of June 2024, the total assets of Bank of Suzhou were 659.514 billion yuan, an increase of 57.673 billion yuan from the end of the previous year, a growth rate of 9.58%; the balance of various deposits was 415.23 billion yuan, and the balance of various loans was 325.116 billion yuan.

In terms of operational performance, Bank of Suzhou's profitability steadily improved. In the first half of the year, it achieved operating income of 6.388 billion yuan, an increase of 0.118 billion yuan compared to the same period of the previous year, a growth rate of 1.88%; net profit was 3.044 billion yuan, an increase of 0.307 billion yuan compared to the same period of the previous year, a growth rate of 11.20%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company was 2.953 billion yuan, an increase of 0.319 billion yuan compared to the same period of the previous year, a growth rate of 12.10%.

Striving for progress in stability, achieving simultaneous growth in scale and net profit.

2024 is the starting year of Bank of Suzhou's new three-year development strategy plan. The bank has established an integrated operation strategy centered on customer-centricity, providing an action plan and strong guarantee for the bank's future development.

As of the end of the reporting period, Bank of Suzhou's asset size has reached a "new level", with total assets reaching 659.514 billion yuan, an increase of 57.673 billion yuan from the end of the previous year, a growth rate of 9.58%.

In addition, the balance of various deposits was 415.23 billion yuan, an increase of 51.41 billion yuan from the end of the previous year, a growth rate of 14.13%; the balance of various loans was 325.116 billion yuan, an increase of 31.715 billion yuan from the end of the previous year, a growth rate of 10.81%.

It is worth noting that in the first half of this year, Bank of Suzhou's profitability steadily improved, achieving double-digit growth in net income. As of the end of the reporting period, the net income was 3.044 billion yuan, an increase of 11.20%; the net income attributable to the bank's shareholders was 2.953 billion yuan, an increase of 12.10%.

Bank of Suzhou continues to strengthen its efforts in providing loans to manufacturing companies, technology innovation enterprises, and green finance, further improving the quality and efficiency of serving the real economy. As of the end of the reporting period, the company's loan principal was 230.331 billion yuan, an increase of 34.33 billion yuan over the previous year, accounting for 70.85% of the total loan and advance principal.

Focusing on the main business, the three driving forces of growth

In the first half of this year, Bank of Suzhou continued to build the core driving forces of the company's business, retail business, and financial market, focusing on the '1510' strategic system, and fully promoting the sustainable and high-quality development of the bank.

In the company's business sector, the focus is on key areas such as government finance, technology innovation finance, green finance, cross-border finance, and inclusive finance, adhering to customer-centered principles, continuously improving the quality and efficiency of serving the real economy, and maintaining a good development momentum in the company's business.

In terms of technology innovation finance, Bank of Suzhou has established a business development framework of 'list + channel + model + product', continuously speeding up the development of financial products and service innovation, and accompanying the entire life cycle of technological enterprises. As of the end of the reporting period, Bank of Suzhou had cooperated with over 11,000 technology innovation enterprises, with a total credit amount exceeding 110 billion yuan.

In the area of green finance, Bank of Suzhou firmly supports sustainable development, strives to achieve the national goal of 'carbon peaking and carbon neutrality' by promoting economic and social comprehensive green transformation through financial practices, and endeavors to create a green finance brand image in the Yangtze River Delta region. As of the end of the reporting period, the green loan balance of Bank of Suzhou was 39.695 billion yuan, a net increase of 9.515 billion yuan over the beginning of the year, an increase of 31.53%.

In the retail business sector, the focus is on high-quality development, deeply implementing the integrated business strategy of 'customer-centered' around 'wealth + livelihood', deeply cultivating the livelihood financial scenes, and continuously strengthening the brand characteristics.

In terms of wealth management, Bank of Suzhou has launched the "Suxin Wealth" brand and gradually established the "Suxin" series brand system to enhance customer experience. As of the end of the reporting period, the total financial assets under management (AUM) of individual customers of Bank of Suzhou exceeded 349 billion yuan, with a growth rate of over 12%; the number of private banking customers increased by over 25% compared to the beginning of the year, and the financial assets of private banking customers increased by over 20% compared to the beginning of the year.

In terms of people's livelihood finance, Bank of Suzhou deepens its cooperation with government, actively issues the third generation of provincial social security cards and cards for the elderly, promotes the optimization of government service platform systems such as social security, tax, and medical services, and provides pension and elderly care payment services. Bank of Suzhou continuously expands the "Su Medical Wisdom" project, the "nearby service" provided by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, etc., and has launched the first self-service system for hospital admission and discharge in Suzhou City, and fully promotes the use of cloud computing service for hospitalization. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has established a total of 90 "nearby service" outlets.

In the financial market business sector, the focus is on core capacity building, based on the stable development of cultivating leading capabilities in investment and trading, asset allocation, liability optimization, comprehensive services, and other aspects of city commercial banks.

In the first half of the year, Bank of Suzhou actively participated in the underwriting of national bonds and Jiangsu provincial local bonds, helping to promote the high-quality development of the real economy, and successfully issued the first phase of 3 billion yuan financial bonds specializing in new productive forces. In addition, fully leveraging the role of asset custody as a comprehensive platform tool for the whole bank, the asset custody business has achieved stable development. As of the end of the reporting period, the scale of asset custody in the entire bank was 213.398 billion yuan.

Strengthening the foundation and solidifying the risk control system

Bank of Suzhou has always regarded risk prevention and control as the eternal theme of financial work, and continuously solidifies the foundation of risk control. By continuously improving the comprehensive risk management system of "full caliber, full coverage, full process, and full cycle", a risk control synergy is formed.

At the same time, focusing on managing credit risks, daily monitoring of fine risk indicators, strengthening forward-looking prediction and analysis; and continuously strengthening the resolution of non-performing loans through multiple measures such as litigation collection, self-collection, restructuring and revitalization, and transfer and write-off, in order to fully resolve stock risks; at the same time, optimizing big data risk early warning and control, expanding the coverage of early warning, and improving the accuracy of early warning.

Under multiple forces, Bank of Suzhou's asset quality remains steadily, with a substantial risk buffer capability. At the end of the reporting period, Bank of Suzhou's non-performing loan ratio was 0.84%, consistent with the beginning of 2024, and has always been controlled within 1%, demonstrating a strong risk resilience.

In terms of asset quality, at the end of the reporting period, Bank of Suzhou's provision coverage ratio was 486.80%, core tier 1 capital adequacy ratio was 9.43%, tier 1 capital adequacy ratio was 10.81%, and capital adequacy ratio was 13.95%. All indicators meet regulatory requirements and are at a stable and reasonable level.

In addition, Bank of Suzhou is accelerating its digital transformation, establishing special working groups, continuously optimizing the PMO management system for digital transformation, and building management platforms such as SuzhiXin, smart marketing, and smart risk control to greatly enhance customer experience and management efficiency.

At the same time, as the second and the first city commercial bank in the province to directly connect to the central bank's digital currency system, Bank of Suzhou is increasing innovation in digital renminbi scenarios and maintaining a leading position among banks in the Suzhou area.

It is worth mentioning that Bank of Suzhou's operational effectiveness has also been continuously recognized. In the 2024 Global Top 1000 Banks list published by The Banker magazine in the UK, it ranked 253rd, an increase of 11 places from last year. Its long-term foreign currency deposit rating and issuer rating have been upgraded from Ba1 to Baa3, successfully reaching investment grade level. (Produced by Thought Finance)