Banks, insurers see steady asset expansion in H1
Chinese banks and insurance companies recorded steady asset expansion in the first half of 2022, recent data from the top industry regulator and firms' semi-annual reports showed.
Local and foreign currency assets of banking financial institutions totaled 367.7 trillion yuan (US$53.5 trillion) as of the end of June, up 9.4 percent year on year, while underwriters saw their total assets jump by 7 percent to 26.6 trillion yuan over the beginning of the year, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.
During the first six months, banks made an accumulated net profit of 1.2 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.1 percent.
Overall, the non-performing loan ratio, a key metric for asset qualities of commercial banks, was kept at 1.67 percent as of June-end, down 0.02 percentage points quarter on quarter.
Meanwhile, the original premium income of insurance firms came to 2.8 trillion yuan, while their compensation and payment expenses amounted to 776.8 billion yuan in the first half, the watchdog said.
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, a retail financial services conglomerate, announced in its 2022 interim results on Tuesday that operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company rose 4.3 percent year on year to 85.3 billion yuan.
Its banking arm, in particular, posted a net profit growth of 25.6 percent from 2021 while maintaining its bad loan ratio unchanged at 1.02 percent.
China Merchants Bank, a joint-stock lender well-known for its retail finance services, realised a profit before tax of 83.6 billion yuan in the January-June period, representing a 9.57 percent annual gain.
Of note, the retail business of both China Merchants Bank and Ping An Bank contributed to over half of their revenues.
