In one year, 649 deposit insurance banks "disappeared", reaching a record high, with the continuous transformation of small and medium financial institutions.

Recently, the People's Bank of China announced on its official website the latest list of banking financial institutions participating in deposit insurance. As of the end of December 2025, a total of 3112 banks participated in deposit insurance, a decrease of 649 banks compared to the 3761 at the end of 2024. The reduction in scale was 3.6 times that of 2024, reaching a new high in recent years. Wang Pengbo, Chief Analyst of Botong Consulting, believes that the accelerated reduction in the number of institutions participating in deposit insurance is primarily driven by regulatory efforts to reduce the quantity and improve the quality of small and medium-sized financial institutions. "In the future, the number of small and medium-sized banks will continue to decline, and the reshuffling of small and medium-sized financial institutions is still ongoing," he said.