BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- China's listed banks saw better business performance in the first three quarters of this year, with stable asset quality.
State-owned commercial banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank and the Bank of Communications, all reported year-on-year growth in operating revenue greater than 10 percent, according to their latest financial reports.
China Everbright Bank, a joint-equity commercial bank, registered a 23.19-percent year-on-year growth in operating income, its biggest increase over the past six years.
With the improvement of financial service to the real economy, the growth in the credit supply brought a faster increase in both revenue and profit, said Dong Ximiao, a researcher with Sichuan Xinwang Bank.
In the first three quarters, newly added social financing totaled 18.74 trillion yuan (about 2.66 trillion U.S. dollars), with new loans to the real economy at 13.9 trillion yuan, central bank data showed.
Despite downward economic pressure, the asset quality of the banking sector remained steady as many banks posted a decline in their non-performing loan (NPL) ratio.
The ICBC, China's biggest commercial lender, reported its NPL ratio went down for an 11th straight quarter to 1.44 percent, while its net profit increased 5.8 percent to 83.78 billion yuan.
Facing a complex and changing environment in the future, banks should implement stricter risk control management, improve core competence and speed up the transition to digital technology, Dong said.
