By Ziyi Tang and Engen Tham
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s (ICBC) (ICBC) first-half net profit declined 1.4% to 168.103 billion yuan ($23.5 billion), it said on Friday, citing shrinking margins
The results of the world’s largest lender by assets also reflected slowing loan growth in a deflationary economy and narrowing margins because of lower interest rates.
The bank’s net interest margin – a gauge of profitability – was 1.3% at the end of June, compared with 1.33% at the end of March.
The Chinese banking sector’s profit margins have been under pressure since the COVID-19 pandemic, weighed down by successive central bank interest rate cuts to boost the slowing economy.
ICBC’s non-performing loan ratio at the end of June was unchanged from March at 1.33%.
($1 = 7.1529 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Ziyi Tang and Engen ThamEditing by David Goodman)
