China’s bank growth slowed in 1Q15
(18 May 2015 – China) The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) released its supervisory statistics for the first quarter showing banking assets and liabilities increased steadily at the start of 2015.
By the end of the first quarter, renminbi (RMB) and foreign currency assets of Chinese banking institutions domestically and abroad reached 178.8 trillion yuan (A$35.8 trillion), up by 12.07 percent year-on-year.
Assets of large commercial banks registered 74.2 trillion yuan, accounting for 41.50 percent of total amount, and up by 7.59 percent year-on-year.
Assets of joint-equity commercial banks reached 32.4 trillion yuan, accounting for 18.14 percent of the total, up by 13.58 percent on the previous year.
RMB and foreign currency liabilities of banking institutions at home and abroad reached 165.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.48 percent year-on-year.
Liabilities of large commercial banks registered 68.6 trillion yuan, taking up 41.36 percent of the total amount, and up by 6.72 percent year-on-year.
Liabilities of joint-stock commercial banks were 30.4 trillion yuan, accounting for 18.34 percent of the total, up by 13.18 percent year-on-year.
During the quarter China’s banking sector strengthened its financial services for key social and economic areas and civil livelihood projects.
The banking sector further improved differentiated credit policies and credit structure, and strengthened financial support for agro-related areas, micro-and small-sized enterprises (MSEs) and government-subsidized housing projects.
By the end of the first quarter, agro-related loans (excluding bill financing) balance of banking institutions reached 24.6 trillion yuan, up by 12.9 percent year-on-year.
The outstanding balance of loans to MSEs (including MSE loans, individual business loans and MSE owner loans) reached 21.4 trillion yuan, up by 16.8 percent year-on-year.
Loans to credit card consumption and government-subsidized housing projects increased by 28.4 percent and 63.2 percent respectively.
The growth rate of these loans all exceeded the average growth rate of banking loans during the same period.
Credit risks continued to rise, and the quality of credit assets was generally under control.
By the end of the first quarter, 2015, outstanding balance of NPLs of commercial banks was 982.5 billion yuan, up by 139.9 billion yuan compared with the end of the previous quarter.
NPL ratio of commercial banks was 1.39 percent, increased by 0.15 percentage point compared with the end of the previous quarter.
By the end of the first quarter, 2015, outstanding balance of performing loans was 69.5 trillion yuan, among which, standard loans balance was 67.0 trillion yuan and the balance of special mention loans was 2.48 trillion yuan.
The CBRC said the profit growth of the banking sector slowed down in the first quarter.
By the end of the first quarter, the accumulated net profit of commercial banks of the year was 443.6 billion yuan, up by 3.73 percent year-on-year.
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