AgBank's net profit rises 4.9 percent to US$31b in 2017

The Agricultural Bank of China said today its net profit rose 4.9 percent in 2017 as its asset quality improved.

State-owned AgBank ended last year with 193 billion yuan (US$31 billion) in net earnings, according to its an unaudited annual report. The bank's revenue grew 6.13 percent year on year. 

The bank’s bad loans fell by 15.94 percent from 2016 to 194.03 billion yuan during the past 12 months, with its non-performing loan ratio dipping by 0.56 percent to 1.81 percent in 2017.

AgBank's provision coverage ratio against bad loans stood at 208.37 percent in the past year, well above the 150 percent required by the China Banking Regulatory Commission. The ratio, which shows the amount of funds set aside by banks to cover bad loans, surged by more than a third compared with that of 2016.

By the end of 2017, AgBank registered nearly 1.001 trillion yuan of new loans, up 10.3 percent, and 1.156 trillion yuan in new deposits, a rise of 7.69 percent, according to the report.