Bad debts drive China banks to cut dividend payouts

Beijing

CHINA'S biggest banks are accelerating cuts to their dividend payouts as bad debts pile up from struggling exporters in the Pearl River Delta, coal companies in the nation's west and manufacturers in the Bohai Rim near Beijing.

Three of the nation's four largest banks, including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC), this week cut their payment ratios for 2014 by the most in three years. ICBC's fell to 33 per cent from 35 per cent a year earlier. The smaller China Citic Bank Corp last week eliminated its payment altogether.

Rising charges for bad debts - ICBC more than doubled provisions in the fourth quarter - are cutting profits just as regulators require banks to hold extra capital. The average gain in net income for four of the five biggest banks - ICBC, Agricultural…