China's big banks set for hard slog as margins fall

Shanghai

FOUR of China's so-called "Big Five" state-owned banks have warned that profits will continue to be pressured in the second half of the year, as slowing growth in the world's second- biggest economy hits borrowers and saps lenders' margins.

Chinese banks, among the world's biggest by market value, also face rising volumes of sour debt, forcing a quicker pace of write-offs - even as a series of rate cuts has chipped away at their interest income.