Top lenders report dip in profits, rise in bad debt
Print Edition
TWO of China’s biggest lenders yesterday released their annual earnings reports, with the key features of both being large slides in net profit and sharp increases in bad loans.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest lender by assets, said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange that its net profit rose by just 0.5 percent in 2015 to 277.1 billion yuan (US$42.8 billion). The increase followed a 5 percent gain a year earlier.
“Some industries and enterprises faced persistent challenges, and some suffered from capital chain tension, which led to worsening solvency,” the report said.
The lender’s non-performing loans, meanwhile, rose by 55 billion yuan to 179.5 billion yuan, pushing its bad-loan ratio up to 1.5 percent from 1.13 percent a year earlier.
The bank said more loans had gone sour as “economic growth slows down, structural adjustment deepens and industrial transformation accelerates.”
As a result, the company said it cut its dividend payout ratio for a second year in succession, to 30 percent from 33 percent in 2014.
Soon after ICBC published its report, Bank of China said its net profit rose by just 0.74 percent to 170.8 billion yuan in 2015, following an 8 percent gain a year earlier.
The country’s fourth-largest lender said in a stock exchange filing that its bad loan ratio for last year rose to 1.43 percent from 1.18 percent in 2014, or by 30.4 billion yuan to 130.9 billion yuan.
“China’s economy is at a critical juncture, in which growth is shifting gear, the economic structure is adjusting and the driving impetus is changing,” said BOC Chairman Tian Guoli.
China is seeking to shift its economic drivers away from cheap exports and huge government investment, but leaders have warned of slower growth under the “new normal.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
