① Recently, a number of banks, including CMB and CITIC, have successively disclosed their annual reports and released their 2023 dividend plans. Among them, Bank of Tianjin was also a rare first dividend after three years; ② Today's closing, “high dividends” such as CMB and Ping An represented a marked rise in the stock prices of banks; ③ Industry insiders believe that listed banks should play an exemplary role and appropriately increase dividend amounts and dividend rates as conditions permit.
Financial Services Association, March 26 (Reporter Peng Kefeng) On March 15, the Securities Regulatory Commission issued “Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of Listed Companies (Trial)”. The opinions were put forward to strengthen the supervision of cash dividends and enhance investor returns.
A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that it is probably echoing the latest appeal from the Securities Regulatory Commission. Recently, many banks, including CMB, CITIC, and Ping An, have successively disclosed their annual reports and released their 2023 dividend plans. There is no shortage of big efforts, and the Bank of Tianjin is even more rare for the first time in three years.
China Merchants Bank, which just disclosed its annual report on the evening of the 25th, proposed a plan showing that the dividend rate (the ratio of cash dividends to net profit attributable to the bank's common shareholders in the consolidated statements) increased by 2 percentage points to 35.01% over the previous year, the biggest increase in recent years.
The big dividend immediately spurred the market to vote with their feet. Today's closing, “high dividends” such as CMB and Ping An represented a marked rise in bank stock prices. CMB led the entire banking sector with a 3.35% increase.
Meanwhile, according to the CITIC Tier 1 industry ranking, the banking sector ranked first among all industries with an increase of 1.41% on the same day.
In response, a brokerage banking analyst told the Financial Association reporter that this time, many banks have increased their dividend rates. On the one hand, it is based on profits that continued to rise last year. As a representative of high dividends, banks should naturally increase the amount of dividends; on the other hand, although banks' dividend rates have always been relatively high, there are also banks that have clearly lagged behind their peers in the past. The increase in dividend rates by some banks this year may also be related to the supervisory authorities calling for encouraging dividends and multiple dividends. Objectively speaking, listed banks that investors regard as “cash cows” should also play an exemplary role by appropriately increasing the dividend amount and dividend rate as conditions permit.
Stock banks such as CMB and Ping An all increased markedly this year, and Ping An Bank rarely increased to 30%
Recently, a number of listed banks have been intensively publishing their 2023 annual reports. A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that at present, the latest dividend plans of many representative stock banks, such as CMB, CITIC, and Ping An, can all be called “big efforts.”
On the evening of March 25, the 2023 equity distribution plan disclosed by China Merchants Bank showed that it plans to pay 1.97 yuan for every 10 shares, for a total cash dividend of 49.734 billion yuan. The dividend rate (the ratio of cash dividends to net profit attributable to the bank's common shareholders in the consolidated statements) increased by 2 percentage points to 35.01% over the previous year.
A CFC reporter queried China Merchants Bank's past annual reports and found that in 2020, 2021, and 2022, the ratio of cash dividends to net profit attributable to the Bank's common shareholders in the consolidated statements was 33.02%, 33.00%, and 33.01%, respectively. This means that China Merchants Bank's dividend rate has been repeated from 2020 to 2023, but the basic changes have not been significant. This time, the magnitude of change is significantly greater than in previous years.
Furthermore, according to the 2023 annual report, Ping An Bank plans to distribute cash dividends of 7.19 yuan (tax included) for every 10 shares, for a total cash dividend of 13.953 billion yuan. According to this plan, Ping An Bank's 2023 cash dividend as a share of net profit attributable to mother increased from 12% in the previous year to 30%, an increase of 18 percentage points. As the first A-share joint stock bank to disclose its 2023 annual report, Ping An Bank's initiative once attracted public attention.
China CITIC Bank's dividend amount hit a record high since listing, Bank of Tianjin paid dividends again after a lapse of three years
A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that compared to CMB and Ping An's masterpieces, China CITIC Bank's performance was not as good as concessions.
On March 21, China CITIC Bank also announced its annual profit distribution plan: based on the total share capital registered on the share registration date for this dividend payment, A-share shareholders and H-share shareholders registered on the share registration date will pay a cash dividend of 3.56 billion yuan (tax included) for every 10 shares. Based on the total share capital of the company's A shares and H shares of 48.967 billion shares as of December 31, 2023, the total cash dividend distributed to the company's common shareholders was RMB 17.432 billion (tax included), accounting for 28.01% of the net profit attributable to the company's common shareholders after the 2023 merger.
A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that in March of last year, China CITIC Bank disclosed its 2022 annual report and 2022 profit distribution plan. In 2022, China CITIC Bank plans to pay a cash dividend of RMB 3.29 (tax included) for every 10 shares. Based on the total share capital of the bank's A shares and H shares as of December 31, 2022, the total cash dividend distributed to common stock in 2022 was RMB 16.1 billion, accounting for 28.09% of the net profit attributable to the bank's common shareholders after the 2022 merger. The dividend level and dividend ratio were both higher than in 2021, and the dividend amount reached a new high since listing.
This also means that this year China CITIC Bank's dividend amount of 17.432 billion yuan will reach another record high since listing.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that after a lapse of three years, the Bank of Tianjin once again paid dividends. On March 20, according to the performance announcement, during the reporting period, the bank's earnings per share were 0.62 yuan, an increase of 0.03 yuan over the previous year, or 5.1%. Based on business performance, the board of directors has drawn up and reviewed the 2023 dividend plan, with a cash dividend of RMB 1.2 for every 10 shares.
Industry: High dividends may form a healthy interaction with the market
Why are many listed banks “throwing a lot of money” in terms of dividends this year? In response, Ji Guangheng, Party Secretary and Governor of Ping An Bank, said that Ping An Bank has always been willing to increase its dividend ratio, but past profits were mainly used to supplement capital, so the dividend ratio was not high. In 2023, Ping An Bank's capital adequacy ratio improved, so this time the dividend ratio was raised to 30%.
Ji Guangheng also said that as a listed bank, it is incumbent upon them to distribute the money they earn to investors. In the future, we will continue to actively optimize capital efficiency and return, and strive to create more value for investors. “In the future, Ping An Bank will continue to maintain its original intentions and wishes to increase dividends, actively return investors, strive to perform well, and provide positive feedback to the market and investors.”
Furthermore, in October of last year, Peng Jiawen, then assistant governor of China Merchants Bank, also made it clear at the three-quarter report press conference that overall, the current dividend level is quite appropriate, and “I am confident that the dividend ratio will remain above 30% in the future.”
A Financial Services Association reporter's inquiry found that judging from last year's data, the dividend rates of major state-owned banks and some stock banks have mostly stabilized above 30%. For example, Agricultural Bank's 2022 dividend rate is 32.7%, China Construction Bank is 30.3%, and Industrial and Commercial Bank is 31.3%.
“In a context where regulations are vigorously guiding long-term capital into the market, high-dividend and high-dividend sectors such as banks are also expected to be sought after by more investors, which is expected to form healthy interactions.” The analyst mentioned above also said.
A CFA reporter noticed that at the close of today's trading session, the banking sector as a whole rose 1.21%. Among them, the closing price of China Merchants Bank was 32.40 yuan, up 3.35%; the closing price of Ping An Bank was 10.60 yuan, up 1.92%; and the closing price of China CITIC Bank was 6.24 yuan, up 0.32%.