ICBC's profitability rises by slower 7.1%

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the biggest lender in the country, yesterday said its net profit grew by a slower 7.1 percent in the first half of this year amid an economic slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy.

Net profit at ICBC totaled 148.1 billion yuan (US$24 billion) in the first six months.

However, the growth rate fell from 12.3 percent in the same period of last year, according to its half-year results.

Its results echoed those of its peers which also reported lower profit growth and higher bad loans.

Ping An Securities said in a report earlier this week that ICBC's net profit will slow from 10.1 percent in 2013 to 7.3 percent this year.

ICBC's net interest income rose 10 percent from last year to 237.6 billion yuan in the first half. Loan profitability, measured by net interest margin, improved from 2.57 percent a year ago to 2.62 percent.

But the lender's asset quality worsened again as China's economy slowed as its non-performing loan ratio rose by 0.05 percentage points to 0.99 percent during the six months.

Non-performing loans totaled 105.7 billion yuan at the end of June.

Net fee and commission income gained 8.7 percent to 73.2 billion yuan, or 23 percent of operating income.