China's listed banks report net profit growth in 2018

BEIJING - China's listed banks saw net profit growth in 2018, according to their annual performance reports.

As of Tuesday, 25 of the total 31 listed banks have released their annual reports. All of them saw year-on-year growth in net profits.

Ping An Bank, a Shenzhen-listed lender controlled by Ping An Insurance saw net profits rise 7 percent year-on-year to 24.82 billion yuan (about $3.7 billion) last year, picking up the pace from the 2.6-percent growth in 2017, according to a statement filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Revenue grew by 10.3 percent to reach 116.72 billion yuan.

The bank attributed stellar performance to the rapid expansion of retail banking, which contributed more than half of the total revenue and nearly 70 percent of net profits.

Over 70 percent of 25 listed banks reported increasing or unchanged non-performing loan (NPL) ratios from the beginning of last year.

At the end of 2018, Ping An Bank's non-performing loan (NPL) ratio edged up to 1.75 percent due to a significant increase in bad loans to corporate borrowers.