Bank of Hubei Could Be on Track for A-share Listing

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Provincial lender Bank of Hubei could be the next Chinese bank to list as a domestic A-share should it secure further approvals from the securities regulator.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) recently announced that on 30 October it accepted application materials from Bank of Hubei for an initial public offering (IPO), after giving the lender approval to apply for the issuance of up to 2.53 billion A-shares.

Based on existing procedures, CSRC is expected to issue Bank of Hubei’s prospectus via its official website in the near-term.

Should Bank of Hubei’s application prove successful, it could become the 43rd listed A-share lender in China following Bank of Lanzhou’s IPO in January, as well as the first listed bank from Hubei province.

As of the end of 2021 Bank of Hubei’s total assets were 350.195 billion yuan, for year-on-year (YoY) growth of 15.0%. Its loan balance was 181.32 billion yuan, for YoY growth of 22.5%, while its deposit balance was 249.911 billion yuan, for YoY growth of 16.2%.

The bank’s operating revenues in 2021 were 7.673 billion yuan for a YoY decline of 1.9%, while net profits were 1.756 billion yuan, for YoY growth of 13.1%.

As of the end of September Bank of Hubei’s capital adequacy ratio was 12.53%, while its core tier-1 capital adequacy ratio was 9.5%, as compared to 13.85% and 10.58% respectively at the end of 2021.

As of the end of 2021, the bank’s non-performing loan ratio was 2.1%, for a decline of 0.39 percentage points compared to the start of the year. Its special mention loan ratio was 3.81%, as compared to 5.9% at the end of 2020, while its provisions coverage ratio was 217.67%, for a YoY rise of 52.48 percentage points.