ICBC writes off $6.3bn in bad loans

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s biggest lender by assets, reported the first decline in its bad-loan ratio since 2012 in the second quarter as the bank raced to dispose of nonperforming credit, Bloomberg reports. ICBC wrote off 42 billion yuan ($6.3 billion) of loans in the first half, 35 percent more than a year earlier, an earnings statement showed Tuesday. Nonperforming loans as a proportion of total credit declined to 1.55% in the second quarter from 1.66% in the first. The bank will next month join a trial program for selling securities backed by bad loans. Investors are focused on the risks to China’s banks and economy from a rapid build-up of corporate debt and by bad loans among so-called “zombie” state-owned enterprises.