China's banks still able to prevent risks despite slowdowns

China's commercial banks have sufficient capability to prevent and offset risks despite a slowdown in their profit growth rate during the first half of the year, the National Financial Regulatory Administration said on Friday.

Net profit of the commercial banks over the period totaled 1.3 trillion yuan ($180 billion), up 2.6 percent year-on-year, which was 4.5 percentage points lower than that in the same period last year, data from the administration showed.

Their average return on capital was 9.67 percent during the first six months of the year, down 0.66 percentage points from that at the end of the first quarter.

The average return on assets was 0.75 percent, down 0.06 percentage points compared with that at the end of the first quarter.

As of the end of the second quarter, outstanding non-performing loans totaled 3.2 trillion yuan, up 83.1 billion yuan compared with that at the end of the first quarter. The ratio of non-performing loans to total credit was 1.62 percent, keeping flat from the end of the first quarter. 

liuzhihua@chinadaily.com.cn