(Hong Kong) – Hong Kong’s International Bank of Asia (IBA) has seen its first half net profit drop 38 percent, impacted by growing bankruptcies causing a doubling in its bad debt provisioning.Amongst the smallest banks in the territory, IBA has delivered a net profit of HK$100.84 million (US$12.9 million) for the six months to June 30, off the back of bad and doubtful debt charges of HK$187.03 million, up from HK$90.54 million. Loans fell 12 percent to HK15.5 billion from last year, with total assets climbing marginally by 2.5 percent to HK$28.9 billion.
IBA is 55 percent owned by Bahrain’s Arab Banking Corp and 20 percent by Chinese financial services firm China Everbright.