Chinese banking sector's first-quarter profit growth at 1.5pc, says regulator
- Chinese banks have begun to improve earnings in tandem with an economic recovery and are expected to continue to do so throughout the year.
- The amount of special bonds for capital replenishment "will be relatively stable compared with last year", said Xiao Yuanqi, vice-chairman of CBIRC, adding that the disposal of bad loans will be no less than in previous years.
BEIJING: China's banking industry recorded first-quarter profit growth of 1.5% year on year, the country's top banking and insurance regulator said on Friday, emphasising the importance of a crackdown on the shadow banking system.
Non-performing loans totalled 3.6 trillion yuan ($552 billion) at the end of March and the bad loan ratio stood at 1.89%, Liu Zhiqing, deputy head of the statistics department of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), told reporters at a quarterly press conference.
Chinese banks have begun to improve earnings in tandem with an economic recovery and are expected to continue to do so throughout the year.
While smaller banks are more vulnerable to any sudden increase in bad loans, China allowed local governments to use 200 billion yuan last year from special bonds issuance to recapitalise some small lenders.
The amount of special bonds for capital replenishment "will be relatively stable compared with last year", said Xiao Yuanqi, vice-chairman of CBIRC, adding that the disposal of bad loans will be no less than in previous years.
Chinese banks' property loans grew by 12% in the first quarter, the slowest pace in eight years, said Liu.
Outstanding loans to support small and medium enterprises nationwide stood at 16.81 trillion yuan at the end of March, compared with 15.3 trillion yuan at the end of December, said Ding Xiaofang, deputy head of the Financial Inclusion Department of CBIRC.
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