The strategic focus and operational scale of Chongqing's two leading A+H listed banks are increasingly diverging.

Last month, officials from Chongqing's Wansheng Economic Development Zone visited the headquarters of Bank Of Chongqing Co.,Ltd. (BCQ) for discussions. Chairman Yang Xiuming stated the bank would leverage its financial resources to innovate government-bank cooperation models, focusing on areas like investment promotion and nurturing the real economy.

In contrast, a delegation visited Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank earlier this year. Its Chairman, Liu Xiaojun, expressed confidence in Wansheng's development and emphasized deepening cooperation in inclusive finance, urban-rural development, industrial cultivation, and rural revitalization.

This highlights a clear strategic divergence. BCQ primarily focuses on corporate and industrial finance, while Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank has a deep-rooted presence in district and township-level government partnerships, emphasizing agriculture, retail, and urban-rural integration.

BCQ has seen faster profit growth driven by corporate lending, though it has relative weaknesses in retail loans. Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank maintains its leading position in Chongqing for assets, deposits, and loans, supported by a strong deposit base from county residents.

Their operational footprints also moved in opposite directions recently. By the end of 2025, BCQ had expanded its branch network to 205 outlets, adding 6 new locations and 117 staff members. Conversely, Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank reduced its number of branches to 1,727 and its workforce by 276 employees, though its total staff of 14,266 remains significantly larger than BCQ's 5,454.

The disparity in their size and growth rates is substantial. For the full year 2025, BCQ reported revenue and net profit growth of approximately 10.5% each. Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank posted more modest growth of 1.37% in revenue and 5.35% in net profit. Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank's total assets stood at 1.66 trillion yuan, compared to BCQ's assets which had just surpassed 1 trillion yuan, resulting in a gap of 632 billion yuan.

This gap has continued to widen into 2026. Recent interim performance figures show that by June 30, 2026, Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank's assets reached 1.78 trillion yuan, while BCQ's assets totaled 1.1 trillion yuan. The difference in their asset scales has expanded to nearly 680 billion yuan.

While BCQ maintained double-digit growth in the first half of 2026, the gap in growth rates between the two banks narrowed. BCQ reported revenue of 8.49 billion yuan, up 10.8% year-on-year, and net profit of 3.52 billion yuan, up 10.28%. Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank achieved revenue of 15.89 billion yuan, a 7.81% increase, and net profit of 8.17 billion yuan, up 6.09%. In absolute terms, Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank's revenue exceeded BCQ's by 7.41 billion yuan, and its net profit was higher by 4.65 billion yuan.