(Yicai) April 7 -- Staff numbers generally edged up a little and salaries fell at nine Chinese joint-stock banks last year, underscoring how narrowing net interest margins and slowing profit growth are squeezing payrolls and pushing salary growth into stagnation or outright decline across the banking sector.

The nine lenders -- Industrial Bank, China Citic Bank, China Merchants Bank, China Everbright Bank, Hua Xia Bank, China Minsheng Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Ping An Bank, and China Zheshang Bank -- added 3,000 employees between them in 2025, according to data from Wind Information.

Total staff renumeration dipped 1.4 percent to CNY272 billion (USD39.5 billion) at the banks from the previous year, while the average annual salary fell 2.5 percent to CNY494,400 (USD71,870).

The headcount increased at five banks, fell at three, and remained the same at one. Merchants Bank and Citic Bank both grew their workforces by 3 percent, while Hua Xia Bank and Minsheng Bank saw the biggest drops, down 5.6 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

Salaries rose only at three lenders -- Industrial Bank, Citic Bank, and Merchants Bank -- by 2.3 percent, 1.9 percent, and 0.9 percent. Everbright Bank, which was one of only a few Chinese mainland-listed lenders to see annual earnings drop, with both net profit and revenue down by over 6 percent, slashed wages by more than 19 percent.

Citic Bank, Merchants Bank, and Industrial Bank have formed a "salary highland" among joint-stock banks, with average pay in excess of CNY550,000. Citic Bank ranked first with CNY599,200, which was slightly less than in 2024 but still significantly ahead of Merchants Bank in second place at CNY564,900 and Industrial Bank in third at CNY564,200.

At CNY375,900, Everbright Bank had the lowest average annual salary of the nine.

Editor: Martin Kadiev