In the past six months, the focal point for Chongqing Bank has consistently been shifts in its equity ownership.

In January, the Chongqing State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission issued approval documents, agreeing for six municipal state-owned enterprises, including Chongqing United Assets and Equity Exchange, Southwest Securities, and Chongqing Light Textile Assets, to transfer their shares in Chongqing Bank to Chongqing Development Assets.

By June, the relevant transfer procedures were completed and registered.

Following these transactions, the composition of the bank's largest shareholder, Yufu Capital, and its concert parties changed, with the aforementioned six companies no longer being considered concert parties of Yufu Capital.

This signifies that the state-owned shareholders of Chongqing Bank have moved from a "dispersed" to a "consolidated" structure, completing the equity integration process.

Before the market could fully digest this development, another change in the bank's shareholder base emerged.

On June 24, Dah Sing Bank purchased 30 million H-shares of Chongqing Bank (BCQ) from Fude Resources via a block trade, with a transaction value of HK$241.5 million.

After this change in interests, Fude Life Insurance and its wholly-owned subsidiary Fude Resources collectively hold 169 million shares of Chongqing Bank, reducing their combined shareholding ratio to 4.67%, a change that crossed the 5% reporting threshold.

Within Chongqing Bank, Fude Life Insurance is executing a significant retreat, while Dah Sing Bank is advancing its position.

Dah Sing Bank's shareholding ratio in Chongqing Bank increased from 12.65% to 13.48%, bringing it close to the 13.69% held by the single largest shareholder, Yufu Capital.

The contrasting rationales behind these moves are clear.

On one side, Fude Life Insurance is reducing its stake in Chongqing Bank due to its own corporate financial considerations and the need for its shareholders to recoup investments.

Fude Life Insurance has long been in a situation characterized by a lack of financial transparency and high compliance risks.

In 2025, Fude Life Insurance established a dedicated task force for asset disposal and revitalization, aiming to offload a large portfolio of previously accumulated real estate and equity assets.

Chongqing Bank became one of the assets targeted for disposal.

The partnership between Fude Life Insurance and Chongqing Bank began in 2015. At that time, Fude Life Insurance subscribed for approximately 211 million new H-shares of Chongqing Bank at HK$7.65 per share, with a total investment of about HK$1.66 billion.

After eleven years, Chongqing Bank's H-share price now hovers around HK$8 per share, showing only a slight paper gain compared to the original subscription cost.

Fude Life Insurance's retreat is, therefore, understandable.

On the other side, Dah Sing Bank relies on the investment income generated from its associate, Chongqing Bank.

As early as 2007, Dah Sing Bank acquired a 17% stake in Chongqing Bank for CNY 694 million, at CNY 2.02 per share, becoming the bank's second-largest shareholder and the first strategic investor to enter the Chongqing banking sector.

Over the years, Dah Sing Bank has reaped substantial profits from its investment in Chongqing Bank.

In 2025, Dah Sing Bank's share of profits from its associate Chongqing Bank was HK$729 million, representing an 8% year-on-year increase.

With its operational businesses in mainland China and Macau still under pressure, the investment returns from Chongqing Bank serve as the core support for Dah Sing Bank's reported profitability.

As of December 31, 2025, the carrying value of Dah Sing Bank's investment in Chongqing Bank, after deducting total impairment provisions, increased to HK$3.157 billion, up from HK$2.533 billion in the same period the previous year.

Chongqing Bank has just entered a new development cycle with total assets exceeding one trillion yuan.

Currently, the bank is in a critical transitional period following its significant scale expansion. Frequent changes in shareholder interests inevitably create disturbances for the stability of its equity structure.

As of the end of 2025, the bank's total assets reached CNY 1,037.726 billion, representing a substantial increase of 20.67% from the beginning of the year.

Entering the first quarter of 2026, Chongqing Bank's asset expansion pace noticeably slowed, with the year-on-year growth in total assets at the end of the period narrowing to 7.2% compared to the end of the previous year.