Bank of Ruifeng First Bank to Pass Securities Board Review in 2021, Set to Become Zhejiang’s First Listed Rural Lender

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Zhejiang province’s Bank of Ruifeng (浙江绍兴瑞丰农村商业银行) has become the first bank in 2021 to pass review by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for listing as an A-share.

Bank of Ruifeng announced on 7 January that it had successfully passed the CSRC review, and hoped to become the first rural commercial bank in Zhejiang province to list as an A-share.

Ruifeng first launched A-share listing efforts in July 2018, yet cancelled its application the day before it was scheduled for review by authorities.

Despite passing CSRC review this time around, regulators nonetheless have raised concerns about problems including administrative penalties incurred by Ruifeng, as well as its non-performing loan (NPL) levels.

Ruifeng’s NPL ratio stood at 1.35% as of the end of 2019, as compared to 1.56% at the end of 2017 and 1.46% at the end of 2018.

In addition to becoming Zhejiang’s first listed rural commercial bank should it launch an A-share IPO, Ruifeng will also be the fourth listed bank in Zhejiang province, following in the wake of Bank of Hangzhou, Bank of Ningbo and China Zheshang Bank.

Ruifeng was first established in 2005 as “Zhejiang Shaoxing County Rural Village Cooperative Bank” (浙江绍兴县农村合作银行), on the foundations of Shaoxing Credit Union.

In 2011 it become the first rural commercial bank in Zhejiang province, following its establishment as Zhejiang Shaoxing Ruifeng Rural Village Commercial Bank Co, Ltd.

The bank has a total of 105 branches, and as of the end of June 2020 had total assets of 119.62 billion yuan, net assets of 10.746 billion yuan, and a deposit balance of 84.553 billion yuan. Its NPL ratio was 1.36%, while its capital adequacy ratio was 17.79%, and its provisions coverage ratio was 236.36%.

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