Bank of Communications Dividend Announcement "Slip of the Hand": A One-Character Difference Leads to Over 250 Billion Yuan More, Previously Faced Large Penalty from the PBOC | Big Fish Finance

Ask AI · Did a dividend typo at Bank of Communications expose systemic risks in internal controls?

A dividend announcement with just one-character difference somehow “inflated” the total dividend amount from 28.6 billion yuan to 286.9 billion yuan—a gap of 258.2 billion yuan.

On the evening of March 30, after market close, Bank of Communications became the focus of attention after a dividend scheme correction announcement hit the wire. In the 2025 profit distribution plan disclosed by the bank on March 27, due to lax proofreading, a text error occurred: “dividends of RMB 3.247 per 10 shares” was mistakenly typed as “dividends of RMB 3.247 per share.” Although the bank promptly issued a correction announcement and apologized, this “snafu” still drew widespread attention from the market. Despite this state-owned lender achieving 95.62 billion yuan in net profit in 2025, maintaining a dividend payout ratio above 30% for 14 consecutive years, the apology for “lax proofreading” behind it exposed flaws in information disclosure quality. When a regulatory penalty of RMB 68 million at the end of last year was followed by a typo in a dividend announcement, investors couldn’t help but ask: does Bank of Communications’ stable business “base color” need to be re-examined?

A case of “lax proofreading”: the chasm between “per 10 shares” and “per share”

On the evening of March 30, Bank of Communications issued a correction announcement, apologizing for a text error in its 2025 profit distribution plan disclosed on March 27. This seemingly simple typo, however, stirred quite a stir in the capital markets.

According to the correction announcement, in the original announcement Bank of Communications mistakenly wrote “cash dividend of RMB 3.247 for every 10 shares of the Company’s 2025 full-year distribution (incl. tax)” as “cash dividend of RMB 3.247 for each share of the Company’s distribution (incl. tax).” Although it was only a one-character difference, the dividend amount differed by a full 10 times.

Based on 95.6B shares outstanding for Bank of Communications, according to the dividend announced in error, if distributed at RMB 3.247 per share, the total dividend would be about RMB 88.36B; whereas if distributed at RMB 3.247 per 10 shares, the total dividend would be only about RMB 286.92B.

One-character difference yields a gap of about RMB 28.69B between the two figures. This number even exceeds the total net profit for 2025 at Bank of Communications (RMB 95.6 billion).

Regarding this incident, Bank of Communications explained that the text error was caused by “lax proofreading” and stated that, apart from the above correction, there was no modification to other content. It expressed deep apologies to investors for the inconvenience and committed to further strengthening the preparation and review work for information disclosure.

Bank of Communications’ “two-sided” annual report: steady performance, but internal controls flashing red lights

Although there was an error in the dividend announcement, Bank of Communications’ 2025 operating performance still maintained stable growth.

The annual report shows that in 2025, Bank of Communications achieved operating income of RMB 258.23B, up 2.02%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company was RMB 265.07B, up 2.18%. As of the end of 2025, the Group’s total assets reached RMB 15.55 trillion, up 4.35% from the end of the previous year.

In terms of shareholder returns, Bank of Communications continued its consistent dividend policy. For 2025, cash dividends of RMB 3.247 per 10 shares (incl. tax) were distributed, with total cash dividends of RMB 155.5k, and the cash dividend payout ratio was 32.3%. Notably, this is the 14th consecutive year that Bank of Communications has maintained a dividend payout ratio above 30%.

However, contrasting with the stable performance is the bank’s repeated missteps in compliance.

In December 2025, Bank of Communications, for violating 11 provisions including account management, clearing and settlement management, and anti-money laundering, among others, was issued a substantial fine by the People’s Bank of China: confiscation of illegal gains of RMB 0.2398 million, a fine of RMB 67.8343 million, and 13 related responsible persons were held accountable as well.

In response at the time, Bank of Communications said the issues involved in this penalty all occurred before 2023. It was found during comprehensive law-enforcement inspections by the People’s Bank of China from November 2022 to April 2023, after which the bank had completed the relevant rectifications and would draw inferences to optimize long-term mechanisms.

Combined with earlier multiple penalties, Bank of Communications’ total amount of fines in 2025 exceeded RMB 90 million. The number of penalty notices during the year ranked last among the six large state-owned banks, but the amount of fines and confiscations ranked fourth.

From the nature of the violations, Bank of Communications’ problems involve multiple areas, including credit management, credit granting management, and data security. The text error in this dividend announcement, to some extent, also indicates weak links in its basic management and internal control.

Information disclosure is never a small matter: compliance scrutiny under tightening regulation

As of the time of this release, this “snafu” had not caused a significant impact on Bank of Communications’ stock price. On the day the March 30 announcement was released, the A-share stock of Bank of Communications (601328.SH) closed at RMB 6.97, up 1.31% from the previous trading day, with a trading value of RMB 28.69B. Opened at RMB 6.99; closed with a rise of 0.43%. The Hong Kong stock (03328.HK) price was HKD 7.01, down HKD 0.01 from the previous trading day, a decline of 0.14%.

Market analysis believes investors’ reaction was relatively muted, possibly due to several factors: the mistake was discovered and corrected quickly—after the announcement was issued on March 27, the correction was completed within just one weekend, without causing continued misdirection in the market. At the same time, the dividend scheme itself did not change; the total dividend amount of RMB 1.3B for the full year was consistent with earlier market expectations. In addition, as a state-owned large bank, Bank of Communications’ fundamentals and dividend capacity were not materially affected.

However, some investors also expressed helplessness on social platforms: “I got excited for nothing. After issuing an incorrect announcement, they still went all-in.” Such an experience of “unearned excitement” also reflects the importance of the accuracy of information disclosure for investors’ decisions.

This dividend-announcement “snafu” at Bank of Communications once again sounded an alarm bell for the quality of information disclosure by listed companies. Although the bank corrected it in a timely manner and apologized, the explanation of “lax proofreading” is difficult to fully put to rest market doubts about its internal control mechanisms.

In fact, in recent years, regulators have continued to increase the intensity of penalties for information disclosure violations. In 2025, bank industry fines in the “ten-million” range appeared frequently. Penalties expanded from credit-related business to the entire process including corporate governance, data security, and information disclosure. As one of China’s six major state-owned banks, Bank of Communications should be a model for compliant operations.

From a longer time horizon, Bank of Communications has been penalized multiple times for compliance issues. In 2020, the Wenzhou branch was fined RMB 28.2 million for serious deficiencies in internal control; in 2021, the head office was fined RMB 41.0 million for 23 violations. The RMB 68.07 million penalty notice in 2025 was even the second-largest penalty issued that year among state-owned banks.

Although this incident did not cause substantive losses, it exposed loopholes in Bank of Communications’ information disclosure review and reconciliation process. In the future, as regulators continue to raise requirements for information disclosure by financial institutions, banks and other financial institutions need to further strengthen internal management, improve review procedures, and prevent similar “basic errors” from happening again, so as to effectively protect investors’ legitimate rights and interests.

Reporter: Liu Jinyang Editor: Cao Mengjia Proofreader: Tang Qi