SPD Bank's slowing profits may herald grim year ahead for banking industry

China's banking industry received a worrying new year wake-up call on Tuesday, with the first preliminary earnings report for the 2016 fiscal year from a commercial lender showing a significant slowdown in profit growth.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co Ltd, a joint-stock commercial lender headquartered in Shanghai, announced on Tuesday a 4.93 percent growth in net profit attributable to equity holders in 2016, a record low since it was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1999.

The net profit was 12.42 billion yuan ($1.79 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2016, a decline of 7.6 percent year-on-year.