ICBC posts US$4.7bln in mid-year profits

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest bank, reported 38.8 billion yuan (about 4.7 billion US dollars) in operating profits for the first half of 2004 on Wednesday.

That represented an increase of 5.4 billion yuan (658 million US dollars) over the same period of last year, an increase of 16 percent.

An official with the State-owned bank said the half year profit includes 22.5 billion yuan (2.74 billion US dollars) allocated as risk reserve.

Revenue from interests and expanded profit business base are attributable to the increase of the half year profits, said the official.

The bank's value of outstanding non-performing assets dropped by a net 47.5 billion yuan (5.79 billion US dollars) during the first six months. The ratio of non-performing assets to total assets was down to 14.6 percent.

The total value of outstanding non-performing loans decreased by a net 35.6 billion yuan (4.34 billion US dollars).

The bank is expected to generate a total of more than 70 billion yuan (8.53 billion US dollars) in operating profits, said the official.

In 2003, the bank's operational profit reached 63.5 billion yuan (7.65 billion US dollars), up 42 percent from last year, according to ICBC.

The Euromoney magazine cited the bank as the best commercial bank in the Chinese mainland for 2000.