Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) said its fourth-quarter net profit rose 4.7 percent, the quickest pace of growth for the period in at least four years, helped by improving margins. State-controlled ICBC, one of the world's biggest banks by market capitalisation and assets, posted a net profit of 58.1 billion yuan ($9.3 billion) for the three months ended December, versus 55.5 billion yuan a year ago.
That was the fastest pace of growth since 2014 and was also more than the 2.8 percent average net profit growth estimated by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. ICBC's net interest margin rose to 2.22 percent at end-December, from 2.17 percent at end-September. ICBC's non-performing loan (NPL) ratio dropped slightly to 1.55 percent at end-2017, from 1.56 percent at end-September.
The lender's net profit for the full year rose 2.8 percent, aided also by strength in its retail business. ICBC reported a net annual increase of individual customers amounting to 38 million, "the highest in recent years". Its number of credit card customers increased to 88.59 million, making ICBC the largest domestic credit card issuing bank, it added. However, ICBC still reported a 3.7 percent drop in net fee and commission income for the year, its first contraction since its listing more than a decade ago, as income from personal wealth management, private banking, corporate wealth management and investment banking contracted.
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