Banks appear to have cooled on disclosing technology-finance data. A review by Jiemian News of 42 A-share listed banks' 2026 interim reports found that several large state-owned banks and national joint-stock banks did not disclose the scale of their technology-finance loans, whereas most had done so in the same period a year earlier.
Industry insiders told Jiemian News that this is partly because some banks' dedicated technology-finance products and services have failed to precisely match companies' urgent financing needs, resulting in a "good reviews but poor sales" phenomenon. Regulators have also become more cautious about requiring disclosure of such data.
Analysts say the next challenge for banks is ensuring funds actually flow to technological innovation and that dedicated products truly deliver results.
Several banks did not disclose the scale of their technology loans.
Among state-owned banks, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SH) reported technology loans exceeding 6 trillion yuan in its 2025 interim results, but in 2026 it disclosed 3 trillion yuan in loans to technology enterprises — a clear change in statistical scope.
China Construction Bank (601939.SH) explicitly disclosed technology loan balances of 5.15 trillion yuan at end-June in its 2025 interim report. In its 2026 interim report, it instead said "loans to technology enterprises grew steadily and rapidly," highlighting metrics such as tech-innovation bond underwriting, without providing the end-June technology loan balance.
Bank of China (601988.SH) disclosed technology loan balances of 4.59 trillion yuan in its 2025 interim report. In its 2026 interim report, it continued to list technology finance as a key business but only said "technology loans account for more than one-third of corporate loans."
Similarly, Bank of Communications (601328.SH), Postal Savings Bank of China (601658.SH), China Merchants Bank (600036.SH) and others have followed suit.
Jiemian News reviewed the 2026 interim reports of 42 A-share listed banks and found notable differences in how they disclose technology-finance related business. Banks that explicitly disclosed specific figures as of end-June include Industrial Bank (601166.SH), Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (600000.SH), Bank of Beijing (601169.SH), Huaxia Bank (600015.SH), Bank of Changsha (601577.SH), Bank of Qingdao (002948.SZ) and Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank (002958.SZ).
Among the banks that disclosed, Industrial Bank's technology-finance loan balance was about 1.24 trillion yuan, SPDB's reached 1.13 trillion yuan, Bank of Beijing's was 521.619 billion yuan, Huaxia Bank's was about 306.2 billion yuan, Bank of Changsha's was 116.468 billion yuan, and Bank of Qingdao and Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank had 34.276 billion yuan and 23.159 billion yuan respectively. Separately, Xiamen Bank (601187.SH) reported its technology-finance loan balance grew 9.59% from end-2025 but didn't give a specific figure.
In other words, several major banks and national joint-stock banks didn't disclose specific technology-finance loan volumes. The six state-owned banks remain the dominant force, with their combined technology-finance lending exceeding 23 trillion yuan in 2025, representing over 80% of the market. Separately, nine banks including national joint-stock lenders have crossed the 1-trillion-yuan threshold in technology-finance loans.
Why are banks no longer keen to disclose the size of their technology loans?
Jiemian News learned this is linked to inadequate implementation of technology-finance policies at the front line and irregularities in data collection. Several industry insiders told Jiemian that banks have gray areas in their technology-finance loan figures and use different statistical standards.
Notably, Bank of Beijing's annual report said it adjusted its technology-finance loan statistical standards and scope in the first half of 2026, in line with the central bank's requirements for the "five key areas" statistical work. Under the new scope, the balance at end-2025 was 435.974 billion yuan, versus 448.997 billion yuan under the old scope.
A person at a state-owned bank's head office confirmed to Jiemian that in 2026, the statistical scope for "technology-finance loans" was recalibrated across different banks.
How to prevent technology-finance products and services from being mere "label-sticking"?
From a bank's operational perspective, tech-finance lending is not simply a scale race.
Tech companies typically have light assets, heavy R&D spending, and long growth cycles. If banks continue to rely mainly on traditional collateral and financial metrics for credit decisions, tech-finance products risk becoming indistinguishable from ordinary loans.
A banker told Jiemian News that while loan volume reflects a bank's commitment to tech finance, what matters more is whether the loans actually address tech companies' lack of traditional collateral, early-stage financing difficulties, and mismatches between growth cycles and loan tenors. "Statistics are an outcome, not a tool for solving problems."
A credit-line official at a major state-owned bank's headquarters told Jiemian News that avoiding "label-sticking" in tech-finance products requires changing performance assessment first. If branch-level institutions are evaluated only on scale metrics such as tech-finance loan balances and customer counts, existing loans may simply be "re-labeled." Future assessments should focus more on first-time borrowers among tech companies, the share of unsecured credit, actual use of intellectual-property pledges, and whether loans genuinely improve firms' financing conditions.
Second, technology attributes must genuinely enter credit decisions. Traditional lending focuses more on assets, income, cash flow, and collateral, but the core value of tech companies also includes R&D investment, technical teams, intellectual property, innovation output, order growth, and supply-chain position. Only by incorporating these factors into risk assessment can banks move away from the traditional "lend only with collateral" model.
Another banker told Jiemian News that the real challenge in tech finance is not allowing banks to take on more risk, but building a risk-control system that matches the risk profile of tech companies. For non-performing loans resulting from failed tech ventures, due-diligence exemption mechanisms should be improved and risk tolerance reasonably raised, so credit officers don't shy away to "only lend to low-risk tech companies" for fear of NPL liability.
The same person said banks' technology-focused sub-branches cannot stop at "changing the signboard." A true tech sub-branch should have industry research, technical judgment, and specialized credit capabilities to identify a company's technological moats and growth potential, rather than simply replicating the business model of ordinary branches. "Of course, recruiting and training people who understand tech companies cannot be done overnight; it requires a gradual approach."
Industry insiders believe the evaluation system for tech finance may need to shift from "how much money was deployed" to "what problems were solved."