China ICBC Q1 profit up 1.4%, slowest Q1 growth in over 8 years

[SHANGHAI] Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC), China's biggest lender by assets, reported on Wednesday a net profit rise of 1.4 per cent for the first quarter of 2015, its slowest first-quarter growth in more than eight years.

ICBC, the world's biggest bank by market capitalization, saw profit hit 74.3 billion yuan (S$15.82 billion) in the three months through March from 73.3 billion yuan in the same period a year earlier.

The result is in line with the 74.0 billion yuan average profit estimate of two analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

ICBC's non-performing loan ratio rose to 1.29 per cent at end-March from 1.13 per cent at end-December.

REUTERS