The four major bank-affiliated trust companies saw their assets under management grow by over 50% year-on-year at the end of last year.

By Fang Lingchen, Reporter

With the release of the annual reports of China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, and Industrial Bank for 2025, the annual operating figures of their controlling subsidiaries—CICC Jianxin Trust, BOCOM International Trust, Shanghai Trust, and Industrial Bank Trust—have also been unveiled simultaneously. Judging from their operating performance, these four bank-affiliated trust companies were relatively stable overall in 2025 and achieved relatively rapid growth in scale.

As of the end of 2025, the combined assets under management of the above four bank-affiliated trust companies totaled RMB 5.33 trillion, representing a year-on-year increase of over 50%. However, their net profit performances varied across companies.

Specifically, Jianxin Trust ranked first among bank-affiliated trust companies in terms of scale. As of the end of 2025, its entrusted asset management scale reached RMB 2.36 trillion, up 60.54% from RMB 1.47 trillion at the end of 2024; within its entrusted asset management, the securities market business scale was nearly RMB 1.39 trillion. In 2025, Jianxin Trust’s net profit was RMB 413 million, down more than 20% year on year.

Shanghai Trust is another bank-affiliated trust company with a scale exceeding one trillion yuan. As of the end of 2025, Shanghai Trust’s consolidated management scale was RMB 1.39 trillion, up 52% year on year. In 2025, Shanghai Trust achieved operating revenue of RMB 53.3k on a consolidated basis and net profit of RMB 942 million, increasing slightly and declining slightly year on year, respectively.

As of the end of 2025, Industrial Bank Trust’s asset management scale was RMB 23.6k, up 110.29% year on year. The continuing trust business scale was RMB 14.7k; of this, the continuing scale of asset management trust business was RMB 13.9k, up 155.44%; and the continuing scale of asset service trust business was RMB 13.9k, up 50.30%. In 2025, it recorded operating revenue of RMB 3.3B and net profit of RMB 210 million, up 5.75% and 128.26% year on year, respectively.

BOCOM International Trust’s overall performance was relatively steady. As of the end of 2025, its managed trust assets were RMB 850.48B, up 10.78% year on year; in 2025, it achieved net profit of RMB 809 million, up 2.15% year on year.

“Bank-affiliated trust companies’ management scale has achieved significant growth, mainly driven jointly by three factors: shareholder resource advantages, industry transformation, and changes in the market environment.” Shu Guorang, a researcher at the Yiyong Finance Trust Research Institute, analyzed to reporters of The Securities Daily. Relying on the parent bank’s full-channel, full-customer-base, and full-funding coordination, bank-affiliated trust companies can quickly expand their scale. Meanwhile, the “three-category classification” policy for trusts guides the industry to reduce financing and conduit-type businesses, shifting toward asset management trusts and asset service trusts. With license coordination advantages, bank-affiliated trust companies can quickly secure positions in primary business tracks such as the transfer of credit assets, supply chain finance, risk disposal service trusts, and wealth management. In addition, as the capital markets recovered steadily in 2025, demand for fixed-income and equity-type listed trust products surged. With a mature trust research and investment system and strict risk controls, bank-affiliated trusts are more likely to win institutional and retail funding trust.

“Bank-affiliated trust companies, backed by bank shareholders, naturally have strengths in obtaining resources from high-net-worth client groups, support from funding sources, channel building, risk-control standardization, and more, giving them relatively strong comprehensive competitiveness.” Shu Guorang said.

Shanghai Trust is a typical example. A spokesperson for Shanghai Trust told reporters of The Securities Daily: “In recent years, Shanghai Trust has worked hard to seize three major opportunities: the overall transformation of the trust industry, the acceleration of the construction of an international financial center, and the ‘digital intelligence’ strategy of shareholder Pudong Development Bank. Through these, the company has further optimized its business structure. In Shanghai Trust’s trillion-yuan-level business scale, securities special account trusts broke through RMB 700 billion; actively managed asset management trusts reached RMB 200 billion; the scale of securitization and inclusive consumer finance business was nearly RMB 120 billion; the scale of wealth management accounts was nearly RMB 100 billion; the scale of technology finance was nearly RMB 40 billion; and the scale of cross-border finance was nearly RMB 10 billion. With regulatory support and strong advocacy across 21 business areas, it has achieved high-quality, large-scale, systematic development.”

Regarding the areas of focus for bank-affiliated trust companies in differentiated development in the future, Shu Guorang said that bank-affiliated trust companies will need to better balance “scale expansion” and “profit quality.” Relying on parent bank resources, they should shift to light-capital, high-coordination, low-risk businesses, and prioritize primary businesses such as asset service trusts to enhance the stability of ROE (return on equity). “Differentiation is still the core path. Trust companies can rely on the parent bank’s client base and industry advantages to deeply cultivate segmented tracks, form distinctive barriers, and not only get rid of price wars driven by homogeneity, but also achieve high-quality profits in stable expansion.”

(Editor: Qian Xiaorui)

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