ICBC promises no price war despite low interest rate pressure

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398) said its net profit inched up by 0.5 percent year-on-year to 365.86 billion yuan last year due to the decreased interest rates.

The bank also promised to stay away from price wars amid the fierce competition in a low-interest rate environment, according to senior executive vice president Yao Mingde at a briefing.

ICBC, the largest Chinese bank by assets, declared a final dividend of 16.46 fen per share, 46 percent lower than one year ago.

Net interest margin and net interest yield decreased by 18 basis points and 19 basis points to 1.23 percent and 1.42 percent, respectively, due to the lower loan prime rates. 

Thus, ICBC's net interest income decreased by 2.7 percent year-on-year to 637.4 billion yuan last year.

Non-interest income fell by 1.8 percent year-on-year to 148.7 billion yuan, accounting for 18.9 percent of operating income. Among them, net fee and commission income decreased by 8.3 percent to 109.4 billion yuan.

As of the end of last year, the non-performing loan ratio decreased by 0.02 percentage point to 1.34 percent, while the non-performing loan ratio of the real estate industry decreased by 0.38 percentage point to 4.99 percent.

STAFF REPORTER