# village banks

China’s Small Banks Raise Deposit Rates Ahead of Lunar New Year as Term Deposits Roll Over

Ahead of the Lunar New Year, many Chinese regional and rural banks have raised deposit rates — in some cases to around 2.15% for three‑year large‑denomination products — to capture maturing term deposits. The moves are largely tactical, driven by over 50 trillion yuan of fixed‑term deposits rolling off and by deposit concentration at large banks, and they risk raising funding costs without changing the industry’s longer‑term downward trend in deposit yields.