Close gov’t supervision driving Evergrowing Bank risk upgrades

S&P flags legacy loan strain despite Shandong oversight push.

Evergrowing Bank is expected to improve its corporate governance and risk management following the government’s “strong oversight” of the bank.

“We consider the government's close supervision of Evergrowing Bank a crucial driver of its enhanced risk management,” S&P Global Ratings said in a commentary published in February 2026.

The Shandong-based bank faces a constrained capital buffer against legacy impairments, according to S&P. Legacy customer loans originated before 2019 are generally poorer in quality than new loans, it said.

Government support is moderately likely should Evergrowing Bank need it, however.

Major shareholder Central Huijing Investment Ltd.'s expertise and the Shandong provincial government's focus on key performance indicators of governance have spurred reform of the bank's risk culture and accelerated improvements in its internal risk controls, S&P said.

The bank revamped its risk management framework in 2019.

“Evergrowing Bank will likely maintain business stability over the next two years, underpinned by its strong presence in Shandong province, where it is the only joint-stock bank,” the ratings agency said.

More than 40% of Evergrowing Bank’s branches are in Shandong, which will have the third largest GDP in China at about $1.4t in 2025, S&P said.

The local economy also consistently outpaces the national growth rate by more than 0.5 percentage point in the past two years.