China's ICBC 2016 profits up 0.5%

BEIJING - The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest lender by market value, said Thursday that its net profits rose 0.5 percent to 279.1 billion yuan($40.5 billion) in 2016, but its bad loan ratio was also up.

The bank took in revenue of 641.7 billion yuan last year, a 4 percent year-on-year decline due to falling income from interest.

Net income from interest dropped 7.1 percent year on year to 471.8 billion yuan, while earnings from other business climbed 5.6 percent to 169.8 billion yuan, said the ICBC.

The bank's non-performing loan ratio came in at 1.62 percent by the end of last year, up 0.12 percentage points from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the bank reported that its provision coverage ratio, a measure of funds set aside to cover bad loans, stood at 136.69 percent by the end of December, down 19.65 percentage points from a year ago.

The Chinese banking regulator requires a provision coverage of no less than 150 percent.

The ICBC has set up 412 overseas branches in 42 countries and regions across the globe, 127 of which are in countries and regions along the Belt and Road, according to the bank.

In 2016, the ICBC extended $23.5 billion of loans to Belt and Road countries, up 35.8 percent from the 2015 level.