China's biggest banks to post slowing profit growth

The mainland’s four largest lenders are set to post the slowest profit gains since 2010 amid bad loans and a cooling economy, Bloomberg reported. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601988.SHA, 1398.HKG), China Construction Bank (601398.SHA, 0939.HKG), Agricultural Bank of China (601288.SHA, 1288.HKG) and Bank of China (601988.SHA, 3988.HKG) are likely to report a combined second-quarter net income of US$34 billion (RMB 207 billion), an increase of 10% from a year earlier, according to analysts’ estimates. Profit at the four largest US banks climbed 35% to US$20.2 billion. Chinese banking shares are already trading near record-low valuations on concerns that China’s slowing economic pace will curb loan demand and spark more defaults.