Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC), the world's largest lender, reported its slowest rate of yearly growth in over a decade as successive interest rate cuts continued to weigh on margins. The results came a day after three other of China's leading banks reported modest profit growth as they battle the lowest net interest margins since at least 2011 amid a slowing economy.
ICBC on Thursday reported a 0.4 percent increase in 2016 net profit, raking in 278.25 billion yuan ($40.39 billion).
Meanwhile net interest margins - the difference between interest paid and earned and a key gauge of profitability for banks - fell to 2.16 percent at end-December compared to 2.18 percent at end-September after Beijing's six successive benchmark interest rate cuts in 2014 to 2015.
The lender said its net profit fell 0.64 percent to 55.02 billion yuan in the fourth quarter of 2016 as margins shrank. The result was above an average estimate of 51.0 billion yuan from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Write-offs jumped around 23 percent last year hitting 74.14 billion yuan, helping to stem the flow of non-performing loans.
ICBC's non-performing loan ratio stayed flat at 1.62 percent as at end-December.