China Minsheng Bank cut Beijing staff pay by up to 50% in austerity drive
Bank suspends work-related expenses, other benefits, source says
Pay cuts in line with China's 'common prosperity' drive
Also follow pressure to increase profitability
Adds Minsheng Bank's comment in paragraph 6
BEIJING, Sept 20 (Reuters) -China Minsheng Bank 600016.SS, 1988.HK has cut pay by up to 50% for its Beijing branch employees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said, in the biggest such move by a major commercial bank, in line with the country's austerity drive.
The bank has also stopped paying for some work-related expenses and other benefits at its Beijing branch, the bank's largest with more than 4,000 employees, as part of the broader salary cuts, one of the sources said.
The measures, which have not been reported previously, have been implemented across the board at the Beijing branch, said the source. It was not immediately clear if Minsheng Bank would implement these measures at its other branches.
The up to 50% pay cut is the largest such reduction at a major Chinese commercial bank in recent years.
Both the sources declined to be named as the information was not public.
After the Reuters story was published, Minsheng Bank said the "information was false", but did not elaborate.
China's banking sector regulator, the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.
'COMMON PROSPERITY'
The pay reduction fits with China's "common prosperity" drive, which was launched in 2021 to address social and income inequality as growth slowed in the world's second largest economy.
Financial firms in China, both state-owned and private, have implemented measures, including cutting salaries and bonuses, and asking staff not to wear expensive clothes and watches to work.
China Construction Bank Corp (CCB) 601939.SS, the nation's third largest commercial bank by assets, has asked employees at its headquarters to take a pay cut of at least 10%, Reuters reported in July.
China Merchants Fund Management, a top 10 fund manager, has asked senior executives to return pay received over the last five years that exceeds a new cap, Reuters reported earlier this month.
The pay cuts at Minsheng Bank also reflect profitability concerns as Chinese lenders come under pressure to lower lending costs to stimulate a economy that is verging on deflation and faces a prolonged property crisis.
Chinese banks' net interest margin stood at 1.54% at the end of June, the lowest on record, official data showed.
Minsheng Bank is a second tier, joint stock bank. It had 7.7 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) in total assets at the end of last year, marking the 11th largest among China's about 4,600 banking institutions.
Founded in 1996 as China's first privately controlled commercial bank, Minsheng Bank has been hit hard by the nation's ongoing property crisis.
The lender was a major creditor of China Evergrande Group, which has been at the centre of the country's property sector crisis. It has also been hit by the financial difficulties of developer China Oceanwide, one of the bank's biggest shareholders.
In the first half of this year, Minsheng Bank's net profit fell 5.5% year-on-year. Its non-performing loan ratio of real estate loans was 5.29% in the first half of this year, up from 4.92% in 2023.
($1 = 7.0530 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; editing by Sumeet Chatterjee, Barbara Lewis and Louise Heavens
آخر الأخبار
إخلاء المسؤولية: تتيح كيانات XM Group خدمة تنفيذية فقط والدخول إلى منصة تداولنا عبر الإنترنت، مما يسمح للشخص بمشاهدة و/أو استخدام المحتوى المتاح على موقع الويب أو عن طريقه، وهذا المحتوى لا يراد به التغيير أو التوسع عن ذلك. يخضع هذا الدخول والاستخدام دائماً لما يلي: (1) الشروط والأحكام؛ (2) تحذيرات المخاطر؛ (3) إخلاء المسؤولية الكامل. لذلك يُقدم هذا المحتوى على أنه ليس أكثر من معلومات عامة. تحديداً، يرجى الانتباه إلى أن المحتوى المتاح على منصة تداولنا عبر الإنترنت ليس طلباً أو عرضاً لدخول أي معاملات في الأسواق المالية. التداول في أي سوق مالي به مخاطرة عالية برأس مالك.
جميع المواد المنشورة على منصة تداولنا مخصصة للأغراض التعليمية/المعلوماتية فقط ولا تحتوي - ولا ينبغي اعتبار أنها تحتوي - على نصائح أو توصيات مالية أو ضريبية أو تجارية، أو سجلاً لأسعار تداولنا، أو عرضاً أو طلباً لأي معاملة في أي صكوك مالية أو عروض ترويجية مالية لا داعي لها.
أي محتوى تابع للغير بالإضافة إلى المحتوى الذي أعدته XM، مثل الآراء، والأخبار، والأبحاث، والتحليلات والأسعار وغيرها من المعلومات أو روابط مواقع تابعة للغير وواردة في هذا الموقع تُقدم لك "كما هي"، كتعليق عام على السوق ولا تعتبر نصيحة استثمارية. يجب ألا يُفسر أي محتوى على أنه بحث استثماري، وأن تلاحظ وتقبل أن المحتوى غير مُعدٍ وفقاً للمتطلبات القانونية المصممة لتعزيز استقلالية البحث الاستثماري، وبالتالي، فهو بمثابة تواصل تسويقي بموجب القوانين واللوائح ذات الصلة. فضلاً تأكد من أنك قد قرأت وفهمت الإخطار بالبحوث الاستثمارية غير المستقلة والتحذير من مخاطر المعلومات السابقة، والذي يمكنك الاطلاع عليه هنا.
