(File photo)

Several employees of Ping’an Bank revealed that they were given unusually small annual bonuses this year, with many rewards failing to reach double digits. In contrast, a number of the bank’s leaders enjoy multi-million-RMB monthly incomes.

The promised bonuses were awarded on Jan. 10, and quickly attracted attention from the public after several employees spread word of the actual amounts. Some received just 5 RMB, while one employee in the retail department showed off a 1-RMB award, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

“My colleague in the neighboring department got slightly more than 3 RMB. I wonder if they will pay us in cash or coins,” joked the employee.

Ping’an Bank argued that the annual bonus is related to employees’ work performances, and that it is paid in monthly installments. Still, 5 percent of bank employees were ranked at the bottom, with the lowest possible bonuses. Some received no bonuses at all, according to Beijing Youth Daily.

Meanwhile, the controversy has spread beyond Ping’an Bank, as several employees of other banks said payment of their annual bonuses was delayed, and many claimed that this year’s bonuses would surely be much lower than those in previous years, as their performances were not as good.

In reality, the issue goes far beyond the performance of individual employees; it concerns the whole industry. The net profit of commercial banks in China in 2016 was about 2 trillion RMB, up 4 percent year on year, but still more than a dozen percentage points down from 2012-14. The year 2013 was reportedly a turning point for profit growth of banks in China, according to Beijing Youth Daily.

Citing research analysis from Bank of China, a nation’s economic growth is a major factor in its banks' profitability. When GDP growth decreases by 1 percent, the net profit of the growth of banks will fall about 9 percent, the newspaper added.