Net profits of Sichuanese direct bank XWBank were hard hit in the first half of 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic.
XWBank’s total assets stood at 40.079 billion yuan as of the end of June, while its liabilities totalled 35.376 billion yuan, according to the first half report of key XWBank investor Chengdu Hongqi (红旗连锁).
According to the report XWBank’s operations saw steady growth in the first half to achieve 1.242 billion yuan in revenue, for a YoY rise of 7.8%.
XWBank’s profits suffered, however, from efforts to comply with the central government’s call to provide greater support to containment of the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic impacts, as well as “sacrifice” profits for the interests of financial inclusion
The direct bank’s first half net profits were just 398 million yuan, for a YoY decline of 14.81% drop.
In June Li Keqiang called for Chinese banks to “sacrifice” 1.5 trillion yuan in profits, in a bid to provide affordable financing to smaller businesses hard hit by COVID-19.
XWBank was founded in December 2016, and is the first private bank in Sichuan province as well as the seventh in China. The lender is also the third internet bank to make its debut in China, following on the heels of Tencent’s WeBank and Alibaba’s MyBank.
XWBank’s registered capital is 3 billion yuan, and its founding shareholders include Chengdu Hongqi, New Hope Group (新希望集团) and smartphone giant Xiaomi.
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