China's ICBC Q3 profit up 0.5%, soured loans rise

[SHANGHAI] Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) , China's biggest lender by assets, reported on Friday a net profit rise of 0.5 per cent for the third quarter of 2015, as soured debt increased.

ICBC, the world's biggest bank by market capitalization, saw profit hit 72.74 billion yuan (S$16.13 billion) in the three months through September from 72.4 billion yuan in the same period a year earlier.

The result was in line with the 0.43 per cent profit growth estimate of three analysts surveyed by Reuters.

ICBC's non-performing loan ratio rose to 1.44 per cent at end-September from 1.4 per cent at end-June.

REUTERS