ICBC Sees Improved Business Profits in 1st Half YearThe Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China's largest commercial bank, has seen a major improvement in its business operations in the first half of this year, with profits increasing 4.5 billion yuan (about 542 million US dollars) over the same period last year.A spokesman for the ICBC said by the end of June, the outstanding amount of all deposits in the ICBC had exceeded 3 trillion yuan, while that of loans reached 2.47 trillion yuan. He said that in the first six months, the bank had largely improved the structure of its loans, with a larger share of its newly-increased loans put into the State's key construction projects. Meanwhile, the ICBC's investment in less-developed western parts of the country doubled from the same period last year, giving firm support to the State's western expansion strategy. The proportion of housing and other consumption loans also rose by a big margin, of which individual housing loans increased 21.7 billion yuan, 13 billion yuan more than the same period last year. The bank also increased working capital loans to qualified clients and profitable enterprises. |
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