PSBC held the 2019 interim results release conference simultaneously in Beijing and Hong Kong on the morning of August 21. Zhang Jinliang, President of China Post Group and Chairman of PSBC, Zhang Xuewen, Vice President of PSBC, Chen Yuejun, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Yao Hong, Qu Jiawen, Xu Xueming, Shao Zhibao, vice presidents of PSBC, and Du Chunye, Secretary of the Board, attended the event.

On the previous day of the conference, the Bank took the lead to release the interim results among the large state-owned banks. As of the end of June, the total assets of the Postal Savings Bank reached 10.07 trillion yuan (about $1.4 trillion), the total liabilities were 9.57 trillion yuan (about $1.33 trillion), and the balance of customer deposits reached 9.10 trillion yuan (about $1.27 trillion). The pre-provision operating profit (PPOP) and the net profit continued to maintain a double-digit growth rate. The loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) recorded at 51.66%, exceeding 50% for the first time. The non-performing loans (NPL) ratio was 0.82%, and the provision coverage ratio (PCR) was 396.11%. In the first half of the year, the Bank realized an operating income of 141.704 billion yuan (about $19.79 billion), a year-on-year increase of 7.02%. The pre-provision operating profit (PPOP) was 68.482 billion yuan (about $9.56 billion), up by 18.81% year-on-year, and the net profit was 37.422 billion yuan (about $5.22 billion) with a year-on-year growth of 14.98%. The featured advantage of being retail bank continued to be stable, with the personal banking revenue accounting for 61.30% of its total revenue. As of the end of June, the balance of agriculture-related loans of the Bank was 1.26 trillion yuan (about $170 billion), with an increase of 93.584 billion yuan (about $13.06 billion) from the end of the previous year. The balance of the inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises with a total credit of 10 million yuan  (about $1.39 million) and below was 612.636 billion yuan (about $85.56 billion), up by 12.41% from the end of the previous year. The balance of personal consumption loans was 1.84 trillion yuan (about $248.25 billion), accounting for 72.3% of the total personal loan balance. For the companies in Xiong’an New Area, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, PSBC granted them with loans of 209.005 billion yuan (about $29.19 billion), accounting for 59.92% of the total newly granted loans to businesses.

In response to the impact of the shift from a “dual-track” to a “single-track” mechanism of loan interest rate, Zhang Jinliang said at the press conference that reform will promote domestic commercial banks to accelerate the transformation of business model and growth mode. For PSBC, it is facing both challenges and opportunities. On the one hand, the Bank has 589 million retail customers, which is a big rich mine. Interest-rate marketization will force us to tap deep into this rich mine, making it the most important growth point in the future. On the other hand, the long-standing retail strategy of the Bank has made us naturally adaptive to the market-based interest rate reform.

"We have full confidence in continuing to maintain the industry-leading role in terms of the interest margin and sound growth," Zhang Jinliang added. In the following second half of the year, the Bank will take a series of measures from the aspects of liabilities, assets, intermediate business and cost to keep the momentum of maintaining the industry-leading performance on interest margin, risk management and finances.

As the last state-owned large-scale bank that has not yet listed on the A-share market, the listing work of the Bank has been gaining lot of market attention. In response to corresponding questions from the conference, Zhang Jinliang said, "under the guidance of, and with the strong support of the State Council and relevant administrations, the Bank is currently pushing forward the process of relevant work in an intensive manner, and striving to complete the dual listing work of the state-owned large bank in two cities at an early date."

At the press conference, Zhang Jinliang and the management team also answered the questions posed by investors, analysts and reporters on issues such as accelerating the promotion of new retail, asset quality and risk management, empowerment and transformation of financial technology, establishment of wealth management subsidiaries, and transformation of capital management business, etc.