Staff reporter and Bloomberg
China Construction Bank (0939) saw its net profit increase by 3 percent to 255.4 billion yuan (HK$272.9 billion) in the first three quarters this year, as it managed to offset a margin slide with lower credit impairments.
For the third quarter, China's second-biggest lender by assets posted a 2.6 percent year-on-year growth in net profits to 88.1 billion yuan.
Its net interest margin, a measure of profitability, narrowed to 1.75 percent as of September from 2.05 percent a year earlier, while the non-performing loan ratio slid 1 basis point to 1.37 percent.
Meanwhile, impairment losses went down by nearly 14 percent to 124.4 billion yuan in the first three quarters from the previous year.
CCB said in a briefing yesterday that its net interest margin is still under downward pressure this year, expecting that the margin will decline at a slower pace next year.
CCB's results kicked off a widely anticipated earnings season for China's largest state-owned banks. Chinese banks have been battling with shrinking margins and rising bad loans since they were drafted by authorities to backstop the economy with rate cuts and loan extensions.
Separately, state-owned insurer China Life Insurance (2628) reported a 48 percent drop in its net profit to 16.2 billion yuan in the first three quarters this year due to a decline in its investment income amid a weakening equity market. For the quarter through September alone, the insurer's net profit plunged 99 percent to 53 million yuan.
