清华金融评论·2025-10-14 09:39Core Viewpoint - The article emphasizes that China's monetary policy has been moderately loose in response to a complex macroeconomic environment, leading to a sustained low interest rate environment. State-owned large commercial banks must focus on serving the real economy and create greater value in the context of high-quality economic development [2][4]. Group 1: Interest Margin Analysis - The net interest margin (NIM) of state-owned large commercial banks has been narrowing significantly due to the continuous decline in market interest rates. From the end of 2018 to the end of 2024, the average NIM of the four major banks is projected to decrease from 2.18% to 1.52%, a drop of 0.66% [6]. - The average loan yield for the four major banks has decreased from 4.34% in 2018 to 3.55% in 2024, a decline of 0.79%. Similarly, the average investment yield has fallen from 3.59% to 3.09%, a reduction of 0.5% [7][8]. Group 2: Cost of Interest-Bearing Liabilities - The average deposit interest rate for the four major banks increased from 1.47% in 2018 to 1.76% in 2024, raising the cost of interest-bearing liabilities by 0.29%. The proportion of deposits in interest-bearing liabilities has decreased from 83.79% to 78.64% during the same period [9]. - The net interest income has shown negative growth as the effect of expanding asset scale to offset the narrowing NIM has diminished. Starting from 2023, the positive scale effect can no longer compensate for the negative rate effect, leading to a decline in net interest income for some banks [10]. Group 3: Future Interest Rate Trends - The article suggests that the low interest rate environment in China may persist for a considerable time due to various internal and external factors, including economic slowdown and structural issues such as technological stagnation and the fading demographic dividend [12]. - Internationally, major developed economies have entered a rate-cutting cycle, with central banks like the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank reducing rates in response to easing inflation pressures and slowing employment growth [13].