Ping An Bank records 14.8% net profit growth in Q1

Ping An Bank, a Shenzhen-based joint-stock commercial lender, reported a 14.8 percent rise in net profit in the first quarter, thanks to the ongoing digitalization of its business.

In the January-March period, the bank's operating income rose by 16.8 percent year on year to reach 37.9 billion yuan (US$5.35 billion) and its net profit hit 8.54 billion yuan, up 14.8 percent compared with a year ago, according to the quarterly report filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday.

Ping An said its business structure continued to improve during the reporting period. As of this March, the bank’s assets under management came to 2.13 trillion yuan, up 7.8 percent from the end of last year. Boasting around 98.6 million retail clients, the balance of its personal deposits amounted to 641.1 billion yuan at the end of the first quarter.

Its non-performing loan ratio stood at 1.65 percent, unchanged from the end of the previous year, the lender said.

Ping An Bank noted that the strong performance can be attributed toward its efforts in the retail banking segment with big data and artificial intelligence technologies.