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SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE, April 28 (Reuters) - Chinese banks are ramping up efforts to promote international use of the yuan, and reporting a surge in cross-border yuan business from the country's booming trade with Russia and deepening ties with the Middle East. Harbin Bank Co (6138.HK), in China's Heilongjiang province neighboring Russia, saw its cross-border yuan business grow nine-fold last year to a record, as the Sino-Russia trade grew briskly after the Ukraine war began. Industrial Bank Co (601166.SS), whose cross-border, corporate payment business jumped 50% last year, has also been actively promoting CIPS, China's own global payment system. The bank said it currently helps 153 foreign and Chinese banks connect to CIPS, to advance China's yuan internationalisation strategy. "Increasing the use of yuan in pricing, and settling cross-border oil and gas trade will give a boost to yuan internationalization."

☆ China is waging a war on its financial industry. Some high-profile bankers are ensnared
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Last Friday, authorities opened a similar probe into Liu Liange, former chairman of state-owned Bank of China, the country’s fourth largest lender. And in January, Wang Bin, who headed state-owned China Life Insurance from 2018 to early 2022, was charged by national prosecutors with taking bribes and hiding overseas savings. They include financial giants such as China Investment Corp, the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, China Development Bank, which provides financing for key government projects, and Agricultural Bank of China, another large state-controlled lender. “The current financial crackdown is a new wave of Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign against the financial sector for consolidation of his power,” said Chongyi Feng, an associate professor in China Studies at the University of Technology Sydney. But the deepening crackdown on the vast financial sector could rattle investors.

REUTERS/Florence Lo/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Five big lenders post over 3.5% annual net profit growthNet interest margin shrank at all fiveNPL ratios steady or down for all fiveBEIJING, March 30 (Reuters) - China's Big Five lenders posted above 3.5% annual net profit growth this week, but warned that the foundations of the country's recovery were "not yet solid". China's Bank of Communications Co Ltd (BoCom) (601328.SS), and Bank of China (BoC) (601988.SS) both posted just over 5% annual net profit growth on Thursday. Even higher figures came from the Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (601288.SS) (AgBank) on Thursday and China Construction Bank Corp on Wednesday, which both posted over 7% annual net profit growth. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (601398.SS), , the world's largest listed lender by assets, came in at 3.5% annual net profit growth. NPLsWhile all five lenders posted steady or falling non-performing loan ratios, they also logged shrinking net interest margins (NIM), a key gauge of bank profitability.

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Dec 2 (Reuters) - China has ordered its top four state-owned banks to issue offshore loans to help developers repay overseas debt, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, rolling out its latest support measure for the cash-starved property sector. The regulators have given 'window guidance', or verbal orders that leave no paper trail, to the banks, setting a date of Dec. 10 by which to make the loans secured against domestic assets, two of the sources said. Funds received after the latest step will allow developers to repay offshore loans and dollar bonds in a bid to repair global investors' bruised confidence in the sector, two of the sources said. Each of the four banks, Bank of China (601988.SS), China Construction Bank (601939.SS), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS) and Agricultural Bank of China (601288.SS), will pick several developers to fund, the three sources said. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Funds flowing from banks will allow developers to repay offshore loans and dollar bonds, helping to repair global investors' bruised confidence, two of the sources said. Each of the four banks, Bank of China (601988.SS), China Construction Bank (601939.SS), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS) and Agricultural Bank of China (601288.SS), will pick several developers to fund, the three sources said. The third source said that, while the big four banks preferred fresh lending to go to state-backed developers, they would have to include some private firms, which have a greater need for offshore loans. Chinese banks make offshore loans secured against domestic assets to companies that need foreign funds, but regulatory tightening in the last couple of years to rein in debt-fuelled empire-building by corporates hampered that kind of lending. China's central bank will also offer cheap loans to financial firms to buy bonds issued by property developers, separate sources have told Reuters.

☆ Three of China's largest lenders report over 6% rise in third quarter profit
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] People stand at a booth of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) during the 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, China September 1, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu WangBEIJING, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Three of China's largest lenders posted third quarter profit rises of over 6% as non-performing loan ratios shrunk. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) (601398.SS), the world's largest commercial lender by assets, said net profit rose 6.8% year-on-year in the third quarter in a Friday filing. All three lenders posted slight falls in non-performing loan ratios in the third quarter. Both ICBC and AgBank posted NPL ratios of 1.4% for the end of September compared to 1.41% at the end of the quarter before.

☆ BNP Paribas gets regulatory nod to set up China asset management joint venture
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Selena Li | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, Oct 18 (Reuters) - BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) has received Chinese regulatory approval to start building an asset management venture with Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) (601288.SS), the two companies said, allowing the French firm to tap a $4 trillion market. Reuters reported in September last year that BNP's asset management arm was in talks to form a wealth management venture with a unit of AgBank, taking advantage of China's opening up of its financial markets for foreigners. BNP Paribas Asset Management and ABC Wealth Management, a wealth arm of AgBank, will fund the new platform, according to Monday's filing. Since China deregulated financial markets in 2019, allowing foreign asset managers to set up majority-owned ventures with local banks, a flurry of foreign firms including BlackRock and Amundi have launched majority-controlled units locally. The new platform will add to BNP Paribas' 49%-owned asset management joint venture with brokerage firm Haitong Securities which mainly runs mutual funds.

☆ Big Chinese banks pledge enhanced support for economy as Xi sounds call for growth
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, Oct 17 (Reuters) - China's six largest state-owned banks vowed they will enhance support to the slowing economy, in response to President Xi Jinping's call for a high-quality economic growth at the opening of a critical Communist Party Congress. Their pledges of support came after Xi opened the once-in-five-year party Congress in Beijing with a speech on Sunday morning in which he said China would aim for high-quality economic growth and will unwaveringly support the private economy. The world's second-largest economy narrowly avoided contracting in the second quarter, weighed by widespread COVID-19 lockdowns and the slumping property sector. During the third quarter, banks ramped up credit support to property industry, infrastructure sector and small- and midsized businesses. China's big state-owned banks are usually the quickest to respond to the government's policy directions.

☆ China trials cross-border settlement involving cenbank digital currencies
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Florence Lo/IllustrationSHANGHAI, Sept 29 (Reuters) - A central bank digital currency trial focused on cross-border transactions has been completed, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said, with Chinese state-owned banks participating as Beijing tries to internationalise its digital yuan. More than 160 cross-border payments and foreign exchange transactions totalling more than $22 million were made during the first trial involving four central bank currencies and real-value transactions, the BIS said in a statement. State media reported on Thursday that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China were among the 20 participating commercial banks. China has been testing its digital currency in major cities, mainly for domestic retail payments, though the central bank has also vowed to explore cross-border payments in digital yuan. Russia, sanctioned by the West over its war in Ukraine, has announced plans to use its own digital currency to trade with China.

☆ China's smaller banks cut deposit rates to ease margin pressure
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Several Chinese city commercial banks and rural commercial lenders have cut their rates on a range of deposits this week, according to statements released on the banks' websites. The smaller lenders followed in the footsteps of some of China's biggest state-owned banks, which implemented rate cuts earlier this month. Peiqian Liu, China economist at Natwest Markets, noted the commercial banks' deposit rate cuts are part of the monetary policy transmission mechanism after the central bank cut key policy rates in August. "This rate cut by commercial banks will help improve the profit margin slightly and is technically opening up more space for further (benchmark lending) rate cuts." Four of the five of China’s largest banks, except for Bank of China, reported falling net interest margins (NIMs) in the second quarter.

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