Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Reports Flat Net Profit in Q3

Key Highlights

• Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) announced its third-quarter results, reporting a net profit of CNY94.93 billion ($12.98 billion). This figure remained unchanged compared to the same period last year, surpassing analysts’ estimates of CNY92.99 billion.

Interest Income Decreases

• The bank’s primary source of earnings, net interest income, experienced a 6.4% decline to CNY164.54 billion when compared to the previous year’s figures. This drop can be attributed to the recent decrease in loan interest rates in the country.

Improvement in Loan Quality

• ICBC reported a decline in the nonperforming-loan ratio from 1.38% at the end of 2022 to 1.36% at the end of September. Additionally, impairment losses on assets decreased by 29% to CNY25.56 billion when compared to the previous year. These factors have positively impacted the bank’s financial performance as the domestic economy continues to recover from the impact of the pandemic and related restrictions.

Profitability Decline

• In the first nine months of 2023, ICBC experienced a decline in profitability. The annualized return on assets decreased by 0.10 percentage points to 0.86%, while the annualized return on equity decreased by 0.76 percentage points to 10.56%.