15 of China’s A-share listed banks have released their preliminary annual reports for 2019.
As of 21 January A-share banks that have released their preliminary results for 2019 include:
- Ping An Bank,
- China Merchants Bank,
- China CITIC Bank
- Industrial Bank Co.,
- Bank of Shanghai,
- Bank of Chengdu,
- Bank of Jiangsu,
- Bank of Changsha,
- Bank of Suzhou,
- Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank,
- Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank,
- Changshu Rural Commercial Bank,
- Wuxi Rural Commercial Bank,
- Shanghai Pudong Development Bank,
- Bank of Xi’an.
12 of these banks report double-digit growth in net profits for 2019, accounting for 80% of the total.
Changshu Rural Commercial Bank, bank of Chengdu and Qingdao Rural Commercial Bank posted the highest growth in net profits, at 20.66%, 19.4% and 16.78% respectively.
You Chun (游春), a researcher from the National Institution for Finance & Development (国家金融与发展实验室), said that double-digit growth in the profits of Chinese banks has been a common trend over the past several years.
Only three Chinese A-share banks have thus far reported an increase in their non-performing loan (NPL) ratios in 2019 – Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, with a 0.13 percentage point increase in 2019 to 2.05% by the end of the year; Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank, with a rise of 0.02 percentage points to 1.33%, and Bank of Shanghai, with a rise from 1.14% to 1.16% in 2019.
The strong results arrive despite a rough year for regional banks in 2019, with potential bank runs leading to the takeover of Inner Mongolia’s Baoshang Bank by the central government in May, followed by the takeover of Bank of Jinzhou in north-eastern China in July.
Two regional banks in China met with abortive bank runs within a two week period in early November – Yingkou Bank in the northeastern province of Liaoning and Yichuan Rural Commercial Bank in Henan province, while the woes of Shandong’s Hengfeng Bank necessitated a 100 billion yuan bailout from Beijing in December.
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