Jiang Jianqing, president of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China's biggest commercial bank, told Caijing magazine that between June 1999 and the end of 2002, his bank had reduced its ratio of non-performing loans by 22 percentage points to 25.7 per cent or Yn700bn of its Yn2,900bn outstanding loans portfolio. The bank aimed to reduce the ratio to 10 per cent by 2006, when it intends to make a listing.
Of the Yn250bn of new loans made each year, 30-40 per cent went to consumer credit and 20 per cent went to discount bills, a business that has grown rapidly since its introduction in 2000. The bank claimed 36 per cent of the home-loan market at the end of 2002, with Yn258bn of outstanding mortgage loans. The other major destination of loans was large infrastructure projects.
ICBC posted a book profit of Yn6.21bn for 2002, 5.6 per cent higher than in 2001, China Securities Journal said. Profits before provisions and expenses for writing off bad loans rose 31 per cent year-on-year to Yn44.34bn, of which Yn38.12bn was used to write off 'historical burdens'.