Six Major State-Owned Banks Pay 220.99 Billion Yuan in Interim Dividends, Payout Ratio Raised to 31%

A-share listed banks have disclosed their 2026 interim dividend plans, with 13 banks increasing their payout ratios year-on-year. The six major state-owned banks collectively distributed RMB 220.989 billion in dividends, raising their cash dividend payout ratios uniformly from 30% to 31%. Both the coverage and intensity of interim dividends have further expanded.

From a structural perspective, dividend willingness and payout ratios vary significantly across different types of banks: state-owned banks demonstrate strong dividend stability with synchronized ratio increases, high-quality joint-stock banks and leading city commercial banks maintain relatively high payout levels, while some small and medium-sized banks remain relatively conservative.

Six Major State-Owned Banks' Interim Dividends Increase by RMB 16.3 Billion Year-on-Year

State-owned banks remain the absolute主力 in this round of interim dividends. According to Wind data, in the 2026 interim period, the six major state-owned banks distributed a total of RMB 220.989 billion in dividends, an increase of RMB 16.332 billion compared to the same period in 2025, representing a year-on-year growth of 7.98%. The scale of dividend payouts has grown significantly.

The growth in state-owned banks' dividend payouts is driven by two factors: first, the accelerated year-on-year growth in their net profits attributable to parent companies, which serves as the base; second, the increase in cash dividend payout ratios. Wind data shows that in the first half of 2026, the combined net profits attributable to parent companies of the six major state-owned banks reached RMB 712.598 billion, an increase of RMB 30.074 billion from RMB 682.524 billion in the same period of 2025. During the same period, the average year-on-year growth rate of net profits attributable to parent companies for the six major state-owned banks was 4.44%, a significant acceleration from 0.25% in the first half of 2025. Notably, all six major state-owned banks achieved higher year-on-year growth rates in net profits attributable to parent companies in the first half of 2026:

• Bank of China: 5.11%
• Agricultural Bank of China: 4.93%
• Postal Savings Bank of China: 4.62%
• China Construction Bank: 4.62%
• Bank of Communications: 4.04%
• Industrial and Commercial Bank of China: 3.32%

At the same time, all six major state-owned banks raised their cash dividend payout ratios by 1 percentage point in the first half of 2026, from 30% to 31%.

Detailed Dividend Payouts by Bank

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SH) remains the bank with the highest absolute dividend payout. For the 2026 interim period, ICBC plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 1.511 per 10 shares (including tax, same below), with a total payout of RMB 53.853 billion. In the same period of 2025, the bank distributed RMB 1.414 per 10 shares, totaling approximately RMB 50.396 billion, accounting for 30.0% of net profit attributable to parent company shareholders.

China Construction Bank plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 2.010 per 10 shares for the 2026 interim period, with a total payout of RMB 52.582 billion. In the same period of 2025, the bank distributed RMB 1.858 per 10 shares, totaling RMB 48.605 billion.

Agricultural Bank of China plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 1.297 per 10 shares for the 2026 interim period, with a total payout of RMB 45.393 billion. In the same period of 2025, the bank distributed RMB 1.195 per 10 shares, totaling RMB 41.823 billion.

Bank of China plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 1.190 per 10 ordinary shares for the 2026 interim period, with a total payout of RMB 38.343 billion. In the same period of 2025, the bank distributed RMB 1.094 per 10 shares, totaling RMB 35.250 billion.

Bank of Communications plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 1.68 per 10 shares (including tax) for the 2026 interim period, with a total payout of RMB 14.845 billion. In the same period of 2025, the bank distributed RMB 1.563 per 10 shares, totaling RMB 13.811 billion.

Postal Savings Bank of China plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 1.330 per 10 ordinary shares for the 2026 interim period, with a total payout of RMB 15.973 billion. In the same period of 2025, the bank distributed RMB 1.230 per 10 ordinary shares, totaling RMB 14.772 billion.

Joint-Stock Banks and Regional Banks Show Clear Divergence

Beyond state-owned banks, joint-stock banks and regional banks exhibit more pronounced differentiation.

Joint-Stock Banks

Among joint-stock banks, three have announced interim dividend plans:

• China CITIC Bank (601998.SH): Plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 2.03 per 10 shares to A-share and H-share shareholders for the 2026 interim period, with a total payout of approximately RMB 11.296 billion, accounting for 30.4% of net profit attributable to parent company.
• China Everbright Bank and Ping An Bank: (Details not provided in the original text.)
• China Merchants Bank: Its interim dividend plan has been approved by the shareholders' meeting, but the implementation has been postponed to January–February 2027 and has not yet entered the execution phase. However, the bank stated in its semi-annual report that the cash dividend for the 2026 interim period will account for 35% of the net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders for the first half of 2026.
• Industrial Bank: Announced its first interim dividend, but has not yet released a specific payout plan. The bank stated in its financial report that the interim cash dividend amount will not exceed one-third of the net profit attributable to parent company ordinary shareholders for the first half of 2026.

China Minsheng Bank distributed its 2026 interim dividend on September 15, becoming the first joint-stock bank to pay an interim dividend. According to the announcement, Minsheng Bank distributed RMB 1.18 per 10 shares, with a total cash dividend of approximately RMB 5.166 billion, accounting for 29.78% of the net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders for the first half of 2026 (RMB 17.347 billion). The cash dividend payout ratio remained largely stable compared to the 2025 interim dividend, when the bank distributed RMB 1.36 per 10 shares, totaling approximately RMB 5.954 billion, accounting for 29.95% of net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders for the first half of 2025 (RMB 19.880 billion).

Regional Banks

RuiFeng Bank paid its first interim dividend. On September 10, RuiFeng Bank distributed RMB 1.00 per 10 shares to all shareholders. Based on the total number of shares as of June 30, the total cash dividend was RMB 196 million, accounting for 21.85% of the net profit attributable to listed company shareholders for the first half of 2026.

In terms of cash dividends, regional banks also show significant divergence. Among city commercial banks that have announced plans but not yet implemented them:

• Bank of Shanghai has the highest cash dividend payout ratio. It plans to distribute RMB 3 per 10 shares, with a total payout of RMB 4.263 billion, accounting for 32.05% of net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders.
• Bank of Hangzhou plans to distribute RMB 4.60 per 10 shares, with an estimated payout of RMB 3.335 billion, representing a dividend payout ratio of 26.02% based on net profit attributable to parent company.
• Bank of Ningbo plans to distribute RMB 4 per 10 shares, with a total payout of RMB 2.641 billion, representing a dividend payout ratio of 15.95%.
• Bank of Beijing and Bank of Changsha: (Details not provided in the original text.)

In the rural commercial bank segment, several banks have also launched interim dividend plans:

• Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank plans to distribute RMB 2.499 per 10 shares, with an estimated payout of RMB 2.410 billion, representing an interim dividend payout ratio of 34.07% — one of the higher ratios among banks that have disclosed plans. The bank has set the record date as September 23 and the payment date as September 24.
• Jiangyin Bank plans to distribute RMB 1 per 10 shares, with a total payout of RMB 271 million, representing a dividend payout ratio of 31.27%.
• Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank: (Details not provided in the original text.)

Overall, the 2026 interim dividends of listed banks show clear structural characteristics: state-owned banks demonstrate strong dividend stability with synchronized ratio increases; high-quality joint-stock banks and leading city commercial banks maintain relatively high payout levels; and 10 small and medium-sized banks have opted not to pay interim dividends. Meanwhile, 12 banks have confirmed they will pay interim dividends but have not yet determined specific payout plans.

Identifying A-Share Bank Dividend Opportunities

From an investment perspective, are banks with high interim dividend payout ratios necessarily worthwhile dividend stocks?

The unique nature of banks means that dividend willingness and capacity depend not only on management's intentions but also on regulatory capital requirements.

According to research by Qu Jun, a banking analyst at Orient Securities, as of the end of the first half of 2026, the core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio, Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio, and capital adequacy ratio of listed banks stood at 11.4%, 12.8%, and 16.3%, respectively, representing sequential changes of +3 basis points, +4 basis points, and +29 basis points. The improvement in capital adequacy ratios is mainly attributed to three factors:

1. Improved profitability in the banking sector, which supports internal capital replenishment.
2. Floating gains in OCI (Other Comprehensive Income) have to some extent bolstered core Tier 1 capital.
3. The pace of capital consumption corresponding to risk-weighted assets has slowed.

Additionally, the Ministry of Finance has injected special government bonds into state-owned banks. In 2025, the Ministry issued the first batch of RMB 500 billion in special government bonds to support four major state-owned banks — Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China — in replenishing their core Tier 1 capital. In 2026, the Ministry issued RMB 300 billion in special government bonds to support ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, and other state-owned banks in replenishing their core Tier 1 capital. The two rounds of capital injections total RMB 800 billion, bringing all six major state-owned commercial banks under special government bond capital replenishment. Other small and medium-sized banks are also actively replenishing their capital.

From a profitability perspective, Dai Zhifeng believes that a return on equity (ROE) exceeding 8% for three consecutive years should be used as a criterion for evaluating dividend stocks, while the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio should be below the industry average of 1.5%. Only when all three conditions are solid can a bank's dividend attributes be considered established.

Using "high ROE and stable returns" as a screening criterion for A-share listed banks, this publication applied the following filters:

• ROE above 8% for the past three years
• Cash dividend payout ratio above 28% for three consecutive years
• NPL ratio below 1.5%
• Dividend yield above 3.7%

The results show that 10 banks meet these criteria, including five major state-owned banks — ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Postal Savings Bank of China, and Bank of Communications — as well as China CITIC Bank and Industrial Bank. Additionally, two city commercial banks — Bank of Chongqing and Bank of Shanghai — and one rural commercial bank — Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank — also made the list.

(Source: Securities Market Weekly)