China's major banks yesterday reported better-than-expected net earnings in the first quarter of this year on the back of higher net interest income and income from fees.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's first-quarter net profit grew 12.1 percent to 68.7 billion yuan (US$11.1 billion) from 61.3 billion yuan in the same period of last year, the country's biggest lender said in its quarterly report.
The result outperformed an average estimate of 65.2 billion yuan based on a survey by Bloomberg News. However, the growth rate was slower than the 14 percent rise a year earlier.
The Beijing-based lender saw an 8 percent rise in net interest income to 106.7 billion yuan, accounting for 73.7 percent of its operating income, while net fee and commission income rose 19.4 percent from a year earlier to 34.19 billion yuan.
China Construction Bank, the nation's second-largest lender, also reported a higher-than-estimated net profit of 59.6 billion yuan, up 15.7 percent year on year.
Its net interest income rose 12.4 percent to 92.3 billion yuan while net fee and commission income increased 18.9 percent to 28.9 billion yuan.
CCB said its non-performing loan ratio stood at 0.99 percent, the same as that at the end of last year.
The Agricultural Bank of China said its net profit rose 8.2 percent in the first quarter to 47 billion yuan, primarily thanks to a 22.2 percent jump in net fee and commission income.
But the hike in AgBank's first-quarter net profit moderated sharply from an increase of 28 percent a year earlier as its net interest margin, a key gauge of banks' lending profitability, narrowed to 2.78 percent from 2.97 percent a year ago.
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