Foreign banks in Shanghai earn 12.5b yuan in profits

Foreign capitalized banks in Shanghai earned total profits of 12.5 billion yuan in 2012, their strongest ever performance, according to statistics from Shanghai Regulatory Bureau under China Banking Regulatory Commission.

By the end of December 2012, foreign capitalized banks in Shanghai had total assets of 1.08 trillion yuan ($173 billion), total deposits of 572.9 billion yuan and a loan book worth 424.3 billion yuan.

The rate of non-performing loans by foreign banks in Shanghai was just 0.37 percent, lower than the national banking industry average.

The foreign banks also maintained their advantages in derivative trading and foreign currency loans, the figures showed. By the end of 2012, their notional value in the derivatives market was 4.19 trillion yuan, about a third of China's total.

Foreign currency loans granted by foreign capital banks in Shanghai made up to 40 percent of Shanghai's banking industry as a whole.

Shanghai has 22 foreign capitalized banks, 78 branches of foreign banks, 100 sub-branches of foreign banks, and 83 representative offices of foreign banks, according to the Shanghai Regulatory Bureau.