Finance Associated Press, October 29th (Reporter: Guo Zishuo) Under the background of declining interest rates, the profitability of various small and medium-sized banks has further differentiated.

On the evening of the 29th, several listed banks in Jiangsu released their third-quarter reports. So far, six listed banks in the Jiangsu region, namely Bank of Nanjing (601009.SH), Bank of Jiangsu (600919.SH), Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank (601128.SH), Jiangsu Jiangyin Rural Commercial Bank (002807.SZ), Jiangsu Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank (603323.SH), and Jiangsu Zijin Rural Commercial Bank (601860.SH) have released their third-quarter financial data.

Upon review, it was found that the performance differentiation between city commercial banks and rural commercial banks is significant. Even among rural commercial banks, there is a notable divergence in the decline rates of revenue and net income growth.

In the first three quarters of 2024, Bank of Jiangsu achieved revenue of 62.303 billion yuan, an increase of 6.18% year-on-year, and a net income of 28.235 billion yuan attributable to shareholders of the listed company, an increase of 10.06% year-on-year; during the same period, Bank of Nanjing achieved revenue of 38.558 billion yuan, a growth of 8.03% from the same period last year; and a net income attributable to shareholders of the listed company of 16.663 billion yuan, an increase of 9.02% year-on-year.

Among them, Bank of Nanjing saw a year-on-year revenue and net income growth rate exceeding 8% in the third quarter of 2024. Bank of Jiangsu had a revenue growth rate of 4.25% and a net income increase of 10.08% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2024.

Jiangyin, Suzhou, and Zijin experienced a decline in revenue in the third quarter.

Regarding rural commercial banks, although the disclosed rural commercial banks have achieved positive growth in revenue and net income in the first three quarters, their performance in the third quarter was notably weak. Only Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank among rural commercial banks saw an increase in revenue and net income in the third quarter. Jiangsu Jiangyin Rural Commercial Bank, Jiangsu Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank, and Jiangsu Zijin Rural Commercial Bank all faced pressure from a decline in total operating income in the third quarter of 2024, decreasing by 7.97%, 3.27%, and 9.05% respectively.

In the third quarter of 2024, the net income attributable to shareholders of the listed company of Jiangsu Zijin Rural Commercial Bank was 0.44 billion yuan, a decrease of 7.96% year-on-year.

Looking at the revenue structure of various rural commercial banks, Jiangsu Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank, Jiangsu Jiangyin Rural Commercial Bank, Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank, and Jiangsu Zijin Rural Commercial Bank, in the first three quarters, the net interest income accounted for 66.52%, 70.07%, 82.47%, 83.21% of the total revenue.

In the first three quarters, a year-on-year decline in net interest income is a common scenario for various rural commercial banks. Apart from Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank's 6.15% year-on-year increase in net interest income to 6.903 billion yuan in the first three quarters, Jiangsu Jiangyin Rural Commercial Bank, Jiangsu Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank, and Jiangsu Zijin Rural Commercial Bank had net interest income of 2.115 billion yuan, 2.141 billion yuan, and 2.88 billion yuan in the first three quarters, respectively, with year-on-year declines of 7.28%, 4.80%, and 3.69%.

The net interest margins of various rural commercial banks are on a downward trend, with a similar rate of decline. By the end of the third quarter, Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank's net interest margin was 2.75%, a decrease of 0.04 percentage points from the mid-year figure of 2.79%. Jiangsu Jiangyin Rural Commercial Bank's net interest margin decreased by 0.02 percentage points to 1.74% compared to the mid-year figure, and Jiangsu Zijin Rural Commercial Bank's net interest margin declined to 1.49%, down by 0.03 percentage points from the mid-year figure.

Reduction in trading financial assets.

Since the beginning of the year, many rural commercial banks in Jiangsu have been bullish in the bond market, attracting market attention. In August, the China Foreign Exchange Trading System & National Interbank Funding Center reported that four banks, including Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank and Jiangsu Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank, were suspected of manipulating market prices and transferring benefits in the national bond secondary market trading, leading to a self-regulatory investigation.

Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank's third-quarter report shows that the bank's investment income increased by 92.54% to 1.339 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2024, mainly due to an increase in investment income from trading financial assets. However, Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank's trading financial assets have decreased from 20.48 billion yuan in the mid-year to 14.362 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a decrease of 2.243 billion yuan from the same period last year.

Furthermore, the trading financial assets of Jiangsu Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank have decreased from 18.452 billion yuan in the first half of the year to 14.083 billion yuan. Regarding the 35.50% year-on-year increase in trading financial assets in the first three quarters, Jiangsu Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank stated that it was mainly due to an increase in treasury bond investments. At the same time, the bank's investment income in the first three quarters increased by 63.66% to 0.855 billion yuan, primarily due to increased capital gains. Previously, the bank's semi-annual report showed investment income during the holding period of trading financial assets of 0.204 billion yuan, an increase of 181.98% year-on-year.