SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s Bank of Communications Co Ltd (BoCom), reported a full-year profit rise of 11.9% on Friday, beating estimates.
China’s sixth largest commercial bank by assets reported a full year net profit of 87.6 billion yuan, above an average estimate of 83.1 billion from 18 analysts polled by Refinitiv.
The non-performing loan ratio at BoCom was 1.48% by the year-end, compared to 1.6% three months ago, while the net interest margin (NIM), a guage of bank profitability, stood at 1.56%, compared to 1.55% by the end of September, the bank said in an exchange filing.
The bad loan ratio at large commercial banks fell to 1.37% by the end of December, the lowest since the third quarter in 2019, while NIM steadied at 2.04%, data from the banking and insurance regulator showed.
The commercial banks made a total of 2.2 trillion yuan net profits in 2021, a 12.6% increase from 2020, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.
BoCom reported a fourth-quarter net profit of 23.2 billion yuan ($3.65 billion), a 9.2% drop from 25.6 billion a year earlier, Reuters calculations showed.
($1 = 6.3633 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Engen Tham; editing by Jason Neely an Barbara Lewis)
