Bei Jing Shang Bao·2025-11-19 15:02Core Viewpoint - Recent adjustments by various banks to long-term deposit products have sparked widespread market attention, reflecting a tightening trend across the banking industry in response to ongoing net interest margin pressures [1][2] Group 1: Bank Adjustments - Several small and medium-sized banks, including village and private banks, have canceled or suspended five-year fixed-term deposits, while state-owned and joint-stock banks have also stopped offering five-year large-denomination certificates of deposit [1] - Some village banks have lowered interest rates on multiple term deposit products, with reductions of up to 10 basis points [1] - The current adjustments across various banks are a direct manifestation of the sustained pressure on net interest margins, indicating a proactive "correction" by the banking system to optimize deposit structures and reduce liability costs [1] Group 2: Net Interest Margin and Profitability - The net interest margin, a critical indicator of bank profitability, has dropped to a historical low of 1.42%, highlighting severe profitability pressures faced by the banking sector [1] - Banks are urged to lower loan rates to benefit the real economy, but they are simultaneously confronted with a growing trend of "regularized" deposits, making it difficult to reduce liability costs [1] - The disparity between declining loan rates and stable deposit rates is squeezing banks' profit margins and affecting their operational stability [1] Group 3: Regulatory Perspective - The People's Bank of China aims to guide commercial banks in lowering deposit rates through a self-discipline mechanism, not to eliminate certain deposit products but to address the bottlenecks in interest rate transmission [2] - The push for the orderly exit of high-cost long-term deposits will help banks build a more reasonable liability structure that responds more sensitively to changes in the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) [2] - This approach enhances policy transmission efficiency and reserves necessary policy space for future rate cuts, ensuring macroeconomic adjustments can effectively reach the real economy [2] Group 4: Wealth Management Trends - The decline of five-year fixed deposits should not be viewed merely as "shrinkage of savings" but as a signal for optimizing wealth allocation during a declining interest rate cycle [2] - The overall trend towards a more accommodative monetary environment makes traditional long-term savings less suitable for market changes [2] - The scale of the bank wealth management market has returned to 32 trillion yuan, with public fund total assets exceeding 36 trillion yuan, and trust asset management also surpassing 32 trillion yuan, providing more diverse asset allocation options for savers [2] Group 5: Market Rebalancing - The retreat of five-year fixed deposits represents a rebalancing of "price" and "quantity," as well as risk and efficiency, within the process of interest rate marketization [3] - As banks' liability structures become more flexible and robust, and as savers adopt a more rational and diversified wealth management perspective, the bottlenecks in interest rate transmission can gradually be alleviated [3]