The six major banks collectively stop selling 5-year large-denomination time deposits, and deposit products generally show a trend of "shortening".

According to the official apps and mobile banking of the six major banks, the six largest banks in China, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China, have collectively stopped selling 5-year large-denomination time deposits.

This move was quickly followed by several joint-stock banks and city commercial banks, leading to a general shortening of the terms of large certificates of deposit available in the market. Currently, the longest term deposit products offered by these banks are typically 3 years, with some even only providing products with a term of up to 2 years.

In addition to the shortened terms, the interest rates of these time deposits have also been reduced accordingly. For example, the interest rate for the 3-year product of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is currently 1.55%, while the interest rates for the 1-year and 2-year time deposits are both 1.20%.

In fact, the withdrawal of long-term products is not sudden. For example, Bank of China had already restricted its 5-year products to "specific clients" in May this year, and now it has completely discontinued them.

Analysis suggests that the bank's move is mainly to cope with current operational pressures. This is because, against the backdrop of continuously declining market interest rates, banks do not want to lock in higher costs for long-term deposits.

In addition, in the past two years, the growth rate of household deposits has been relatively fast, while the demand for bank loans has been relatively insufficient, leading to a decrease in banks' motivation to attract long-term, high-cost deposits.

This change directly affects the asset allocation of depositors. For those seeking long-term stable returns, they are facing the dilemma of having "nowhere to invest."

According to the "2025 Third Quarter Urban Depositors Survey Report", the proportion of residents choosing to increase their savings has decreased by 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. This suggests that people may be reducing their savings or shifting funds to other types of investments or consumption.

In light of this situation, experts recommend that depositors lower their return expectations and consider diversifying their investments, such as turning to cash management financial products, money market funds, or government bonds and other financial derivatives.

For banks, this also means the need to accelerate business transformation and explore new sources of income through innovative wealth management models and other pathways.

#大额存单 # bank deposit interest rate