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Minsheng Bank net profit up 1.6% in Q1

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-23 15:48

Minsheng Banking Corp, China's first listed non-State lender, said on Thursday that its first-quarter net profit edged up 1.63 percent from a year earlier to 2.50 billion yuan ($366 million).

Minsheng, the first of China's listed banks to report first-quarter earnings, also said it expected a 35 percent rise in profit for the full year to 10.6 billion yuan.

The official Shanghai Securities News said analysts had expected Chinese banks' profit to decline in the first quarter, reflecting shrinking interest margins after China cut interest rates last year in response to the slowing economy.

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Minsheng's non-performing loans stood at 8.67 billion yuan at the end of the first quarter, a nearly 30 percent increase from the 6.8 billion yuan it reported a year earlier.

Its non-performing loan ratio was 1.17 percent, little changed from the 1.16 percent figure reported a year ago, while its loan loss provisions rose to 13.13 billion yuan from 8.13 billion yuan a year earlier.

Bank loans surged in China in the first quarter, with the March total setting a monthly record as the government urged banks to open the taps on new lending to help jump-start the sluggish economy.

The surge spurred concerns, however, over a possible deterioration in banks' loan quality, as well as a possible diversion of funds to stock speculation or other uses not linked to the real economy, leading to tighter monitoring by the authorities and expectations of slower lending growth.

Minsheng's outstanding loans totaled 741.59 billion yuan at the end of the quarter, up 27 percent year-on-year.

Minsheng did not give a capital adequacy ratio for the end of the first quarter. The end-2008 figure was 9.22 percent, down from 10.73 percent at the end of 2007.

The bank also released full-year results for 2008, showing a 24.47 percent rise in net profit to 7.89 billion yuan.