The reform wave of listed banks integrating rural banks in batches continues to heat up. From the "clearance" of rural banks under the Bank of Communications, to the merger of multiple "direct" rural banks by China Minsheng Bank and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, to the "acceptance + exit" plan of 10 rural banks in one go by the Bank of Guizhou. On November 4, incomplete statistics from a Beijing Business Daily reporter found that since the beginning of this year, A+H-share listed banks have successively promoted the acquisition and merger of rural banks, and a total of more than 40 rural banks have been approved for mergers and acquisitions. In the future, reducing the number of independent legal persons of rural banks and lowering their service focus will still be the mainstream direction. After integration, how county finance can maintain its positioning of supporting agriculture and small businesses has become a new topic.
10 rural banks will usher in reforms
The insurance transformation of rural banks has ushered in a batch promotion plan. On November 3, the Bank of Guizhou issued the "Notice on the Risk Mitigation Plan for the Rural Bank Reform and the Second Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting in 2026" stating that the bank has formed the Risk Mitigation Plan for the Rural Bank Reform and Risk Reduction Plan as the lead initiator of the rural bank based on consultation and consensus with the rural bank as the main initiator in accordance with the principles of marketization and rule of law. The plan has been reviewed and approved by the board of directors and is now submitted to the bank's shareholders' meeting for review.
Judging from the existing inventory, Bank of Guizhou has co-sponsored the establishment of 13 rural banks, of which 3 have completed reform. In May 2025, the bank was approved to acquire Tongren Fengyuan Rural Bank and reconstruct and establish four branches: Tongren Fengyuan Branch, Tongren Jinlin Branch, Tongren Lanbowan Branch, and Tongren Taoyuan Branch.
In January and June 2026, the Bank of Guizhou used trust instruments to deal with the withdrawal of two institutions, Longli Guofeng Rural Bank and Panzhou Wanhe Rural Bank. In terms of specific transaction operations, the corresponding village bank entrusts the establishment of a trust with all cash and asset income rights, and Guizhou Bank uses the claims formed by undertaking the deposit business of the village bank to subscribe for the corresponding trust beneficial rights share as the transaction consideration for accepting deposits.
On the basis of the completion of the reform of three rural banks, the Bank of Guizhou still has 10 rural banks that have not completed the reform: Baiyun Dexin, Qingzhen Xingbang, Suiyang Qianbei, Bozhou Huilong, Huichuan Qianxing, Zhongshan Liangdu, Pingba Dingli, Xihang Nanma, Duyun Rongtong, and Kaili Southeast. The bank pointed out that it will adopt the "undertake + exit" method to promote the reform of the remaining 10 rural banks. According to the plan, Bank of Guizhou, as the lead sponsoring bank, plans to undertake deposits and deposit-related bank card and other bank card services as well as outlet services from 10 rural banks, and arrange for employees of 10 rural banks; 10 rural banks will entrust the establishment of trusts with all monetary assets and all non-monetary asset income rights. The bank will take over the claims formed by the deposits of 10 rural banks and receive a share of the trust beneficiary rights in accordance with the plan as consideration for accepting the deposits.
Wu Zewei, a special researcher at Sushang Bank, said that the Bank of Guizhou continued the mature trust resolution framework in the early stage and promoted the reform and exit of 10 rural banks in batches, which shows that this model is stable and replicable. Rural banks entrust all monetary assets and non-monetary asset income rights to establish trusts, and Guizhou Bank receives a share of the trust's beneficial rights in exchange for the claims formed by accepting deposits. The transaction process does not require immediate delivery of large amounts of cash, effectively easing the bank's current liquidity and capital pressure. The trust structure can achieve asset risk isolation, and the collection and disposal of underlying assets are steadily advanced according to the trust cycle. The deposit business and branch services are smoothly carried out to protect the rights and interests of depositors from being affected. Village banks will follow the statutory liquidation and cancellation process. This disposal method takes into account the principles of marketization and rule of law and helps to steadily resolve existing risks.
Listed banks accelerate mergers and acquisitions
Since the beginning of this year, the "acquisition" of rural banks by listed banks has accelerated significantly. On November 4, according to incomplete statistics from a Beijing Business Daily reporter, many banks including Bank of Communications, Minsheng Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Bank of Gansu, Bank of Guizhou, Changshu Rural Commercial Bank, and Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank are advancing or have completed the acquisition, merger, and restructuring of rural banks.
In February this year, Anji Rural Bank completed the acquisition and reconstruction and opened its doors to the public as the Huzhou Anji Branch of Bank of Communications. Bank of Communications also completed the acquisition of all other equity interests in Shihezi Rural Bank and opened the renovated institution in March 2026. With the completion of the reconstruction of the two institutions, the rural banks under Bank of Communications have been “cleared”.
In addition to major state-owned banks, joint-stock banks are also cleaning up their rural bank platforms in batches. China Minsheng Bank has been approved to acquire a number of rural banks related to people's livelihood in Anxi, Qijiang, Tengchong, Tiantai, Tongnan, Ningjin and other places, and all of them have been restructured into branches of the parent bank; Shanghai Pudong Development Bank It will implement absorption and merger of several Shanghai Pudong Development Bank rural banks such as Fengxian, Mianzhu, Liyang, Chaling and Zhejiang Xinchang, and take over the assets, liabilities, business and employees of the original rural banks, and bring the scattered county entities under the unified management framework of the head office.
City commercial banks have also accelerated their entry. At the end of June, the Board of Directors of Bank of Beijing reviewed and approved the "Proposal on Acquiring Yantai Fushan Zhujiang Rural Bank Co., Ltd. and Establishing a Branch." In October, the dissolution of Yantai Fushan Zhujiang Rural Bank was approved, and the assets, liabilities, business and various rights and obligations were taken over by Bank of Beijing. Bank of Gansu acquired Jingning Chengji Rural Bank in Pingliang City and established Jingning Xicheng District Branch, Jingning Beihuan Road Branch, Jingning Chengguan Branch, Jingning Dongcheng District Branch and other branches to revitalize existing village bank resources within the province.
In this wave of integration, rural commercial banks are also actively participating. Changshu Rural Commercial Bank first announced in July that the board of directors reviewed and approved the proposal to merge Taizhou Gaogang Xingfu Rural Bank and establish a branch. Two months later, the bank announced again that it planned to merge Wuxi Binhu Xingfu Rural Bank and Jiangsu Xuyi Zhujiang Rural Bank and transform the two institutions into its own branches.
Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank has embarked on a differentiated integration path. On the one hand, it absorbed and merged Shanghai Chongming Rural Commercial Bank and assumed its assets and other rights and obligations after the liquidation and capital verification; on the other hand, it implemented "village-to-village" through its subsidiary Mengzi Rural Commercial Bank, merging four institutions: Maitrehu Rural Bank, Gejiu Rural Bank, Kaiyuan Hu Rural Bank, and Jianshui Rural Bank.
Dong Ximiao, chief economist of China Merchants Union, pointed out that currently, there are four main ways to structurally restructure rural banks. The first is that village banks are absorbed and merged by the sponsoring bank and transformed into branches of the sponsoring bank. The second is the merger and reorganization of multiple rural banks into one. The third option is to directly dissolve village and town banks and implement market-oriented exit. The fourth is that the sponsoring bank strengthens the management and governance of rural banks by increasing its stake in its rural banks. In addition, under the coordination of relevant departments, some city commercial banks and rural commercial banks have also appeared to acquire rural banks from other banks as the main sponsoring bank in accordance with the principle of proximity.
Prevent the weakening of county financial supply after "consolidation"
The current focus of rural bank reform is shifting from the passive stage of risk resolution to the active reconstruction of the institutional system. Relying on various reform paths, a group of rural bank legal persons with dispersed equity and outstanding governance shortcomings have been included in the parent bank's integrated management framework. This arrangement can unify service standards and coordinate the allocation of resources. On the other hand, it also promotes the transformation of the role of rural banks, from independent small legal persons working alone to the service terminals of banks that sink to counties and take root at the grassroots level.
In Wu Zewei's view, the "village reform subsidy" initiative is suitable for banks with strong capital strength and high regional concentration of rural banks. They can quickly clear risks by relying on the parent bank's management system. This model is mostly used by large state-owned banks and leading city commercial banks. Cross-bank acquisitions are suitable for institutions where the sponsoring bank has no intention of continuing operations and the acquirer has county-wide layout needs. It is mostly used for the integration of cross-regional institutions. The merger of villages in the same family is suitable for multiple small-scale village banks in the same area. After integration, the scale of operations and risk resistance can be improved. In the future, the reform of rural banks will continue the idea of classified disposal, with the main sponsoring bank taking over the responsibility. The overall trend will be to reduce the number of legal persons, lower the focus of services, and gradually build a more stable county financial system.
For institutions that have undergone "acquisition" transformation, after completing the integration, they need to continue to optimize their business layout, base on local characteristic leading industries, create characteristic financial products, build comprehensive service plans, prevent the weakening of county financial supply after "acquisition", and establish a long-term mechanism that combines rigid constraints and positive incentives. Wu Zewei further pointed out that the regulatory level can clarify the county service assessment standards after village reform, set the bottom line of the proportion and growth rate of loans to support agriculture and small businesses, and regularly evaluate the coverage of county financial services. The parent bank needs to delegate appropriate credit approval authority to county branches, retain localized management teams, and avoid directly copying urban business models.
"It needs to be emphasized that mergers and reorganizations are not a 'one-size-fits-all' approach. To prevent and resolve financial risks and accelerate the development of small and medium-sized banks, we should pay attention to the role of small and medium-sized banks and take measures to prevent the 'crowding-out effect' of large banks on small and medium-sized banks due to excessive non-marketization. Financial management departments and relevant departments should provide policy support to small and medium-sized banks in terms of policies, including differentiated regulatory rules, tax policies, deposit reserve ratios, etc." Dong Ximiao said.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Song Yitong
