On November 12, Financial Association reporters noticed that China Citic Bank held its 2024 third quarter earnings conference in the afternoon of November 12. During this earnings conference, topics such as interest spread, net income, asset quality, and dividends are still the focus of investors' attention, to which the management of China Citic Bank responded.

Regarding net income, the management of China Citic Bank mentioned that driven by securities investment business, the bank's non-interest income saw a significant increase in the previous three quarters. In the next stage, the bank will continue to seize market opportunities, enhance trading capabilities to gain investment returns, and strengthen the diversification and stability of fee income. Regarding dividends, investors are expected to receive the 2024 interim dividend at the end of the year or before the Chinese New Year, and in the future, with sufficient capital to support healthy business development, the bank will steadily increase returns to investors.

In the second half of the year, the industry interest spread has fallen slightly, while continuing to enhance trading capabilities to gain investment returns.

From an operational perspective, China Citic Bank achieved a net income attributable to shareholders of 51.826 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 0.76%; operating income reached 162.21 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.83%, showing improved growth rates compared to the first half of the year. Specifically, net interest income was 109.971 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.67%; non-interest net income was 52.239 billion yuan, driven by other non-interest income such as securities investment, with a year-on-year increase of 11.17%.

"In the first three quarters of 2024, the domestic economy is still in the consolidation phase of recovery, with overall market interest rates remaining low. The bank seized market trading opportunities, and driven by securities investment business, both the total amount and changes in non-interest income outperformed the market." Liu Yuezhen, General Manager of China Citic Bank's Asset and Liability Department, stated during the earnings conference today.

Looking ahead, she believes that in the fourth quarter of 2024, there will be continued growth pressure on non-interest income for the whole industry, but with the new round of growth stability measures launched at the end of September, some positive factors have emerged in the market. In the next stage, the bank will continue to monitor market opportunities, seize trading opportunities to gain investment returns, strengthen the diversification and stability of fee income, maintain the steady growth of non-interest income, and strive to outperform its peers.

However, in terms of net interest spread, the bank still faces downward pressure. In the first three quarters of 2024, China Citic Bank's net interest spread was 1.79%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.03 percentage points, but a 0.01 percentage point increase compared to the full year of the previous year.

From the perspective of the net interest margin industry trend, Liu Yuezhen pointed out that in the second quarter, the dividend policy for standardizing deposit manual interest payments released dividends, driving the net interest margin to reach the highest point of the year. In the second half of the year, influenced by factors such as asset price declines, adjustments to existing home loan interest rates, and the transformation of deposits into fixed-term accounts, the net interest margin fell slightly.

As for China Citic Bank Corporation, she stated that the company will continue to make 'stabilizing interest margins' its primary operational focus, insisting on maintaining a balance between quantity and price. Strategically, the focus is on controlling costs on the liability side while optimizing the business structure on the asset side. The goal is to strive for continued outperformance in net interest margin changes in 2024 compared to the market.

The trend of retail asset quality being under pressure is further increasing the dividend payout ratio.

In terms of asset quality, the bank remained overall stable in the first three quarters. As of the end of September, China Citic Bank Corporation's non-performing loan balance was 65.981 billion yuan, an increase of 1.181 billion yuan compared to the end of the previous year; non-performing loan ratio was 1.17%, a decrease of 0.01 percentage point from the end of the previous year; and the provision coverage ratio was 216.00%, up by 8.41 percentage points from the end of the previous year.

"Due to the impact of the slower-than-expected economic recovery, the retail asset quality of the banking industry is generally under pressure, reflecting the overall market trend." Tang Shuhui, Deputy General Manager of the Risk Management Department of China Citic Bank Corporation, stated that the bank has proactively strengthened controls by enhancing differentiated management of regions, customer groups, channels, and products, strengthening the management of overdue and collection of bad debts, expanding disposal channels, and the effectiveness of controls is beginning to show results, with the average monthly new non-performing loans for individual loans and credit cards in the third quarter decreasing from the first half of the year.

Looking ahead at the overall trend of asset quality for the whole year, Tang Shuhui stated that with the successive issuance of macroeconomic control policies, strong support has been provided for stabilizing the economy and mitigating risks. The bank will continue to vigorously control new loans and clean up old ones, optimize credit structures, strengthen the risk control system in retail business, systematically enhance post-loan monitoring and risk alert systems, expand disposal channels, etc.

Furthermore, regarding issues of common concern to investors such as dividend dates and dividend ratios, the management of China Citic Bank Corporation also provided further explanations during this earnings conference.

"To better reward investors, the bank is continuously establishing and improving a normalized dividend mechanism, enhancing the timeliness and stability of cash dividends, while actively responding to regulatory calls to promote medium-term dividend work." Zhang Qing, Board Secretary and General Manager of the Risk Management Department, expressed.

It is reported that on July 1, the bank issued a voluntary announcement to implement the 2024 midterm dividends, and on August 28, the board of directors approved the specific dividend plan. Taking into account factors such as capital situation, business growth, and investor feedback, the bank's planned amount of interim dividends this time is set at RMB 1.847 per 10 shares in cash dividend (including tax), accounting for 29.20% of the net income attributable to ordinary shareholders after the 2024 interim consolidation, further increasing the dividend ratio.

"Subsequently, the bank will submit to an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders for approval according to the corporate governance process. It is expected that investors will receive the 2024 interim dividends by the end of the year or before the Chinese New Year next year," Zhang Qing said. In the future, with sufficient capital to support healthy business development, the bank will steadily increase returns to investors, sharing the results of operational development with investors through concrete actions.