The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Limited yesterday reported a hefty rise in profits last year, showing a much improved financial profile after a State-aided restructuring.

 

China's largest commercial lender chalked up 90.2 billion yuan (US$11 billion) in operating profit for 2005, up 20 percent from the previous year.

 

That enabled a 28 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion) net profit, which was up 750 percent up from 2004.

 

ICBC's non-performing loan (NPL) ratio stood at 4.43 percent at the end of last year. Capital adequacy ratio reported a robust 10.26 percent, compared to the 8 percent regulatory minimum.

 

Analysts say a State-led bailout scheme significantly lifted ICBC's financial profile. The State-owned lender received US$15 billion in capital injection last April from the Chinese Government, while 284 billion yuan (US$35 billion) of NPLs were transferred from its balance sheet to asset management companies.

 

China launched a major reform of its "Big Four" State-owned lenders at the end of 2003, when it invested a combined US$45 billion of capital into the Bank of China and China Construction Bank. The latter was listed in Hong Kong earlier this month, raising US$8 billion.

 

The authorities are still considering a reform plan for the Agricultural Bank of China, the weakest of the four lenders.

 

The bank attributed the improvement in its financial strength largely to its reform efforts during the past five years, which saw its total assets soar by 900 percent. Its NPL ratio plummeted from 34.44 percent to 4.43 percent, and potential risk of nearly 1 trillion yuan (US$123 billion) in payback loans was resolved.

 

Structural improvements were also noticeable. The percentage of loans in total assets dropped to 51 percent currently, from nearly 70 percent five years earlier. Meanwhile, the share of interest income in total income shrank from 70 percent in 2000 to last year's 53 percent, reducing its reliance on lending operations.

 

"It's more pleasing to note that the bank's competitiveness had improved substantially during the five years, which is reflected not just in enhanced profitability and optimized business structure, but in better operating efficiency and innovation," the bank said in a statement.

 

ICBC's per capita deposits rose from 6.9 million yuan (US$851,000) in 2000 to last year's 15.3 million yuan (US$1.8 million), while per-capita operating profit skyrocketed to 245,000 yuan (US$30,000) from 21,000 yuan (US$2,590), it said.

 

The bank, which is planning an initial public offering by the end of this year, also said its joint-stock reform continued to deepen after it was restructured into a joint-stock company last October.

 

Among others, the new board, supervisory committee and general meeting started functioning, a new performance evaluation program has been put into use and a new accounting system has been established, it said.

 

(China Daily January 20, 2006)