(Yicai) March 28 -- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country’s largest commercial lender, saw its revenue decline last year, mainly because of a lower interest margin.

Revenue fell 4.3 percent to CNY806.5 billion (USD111.6 billion) in the 12 months ended Dec. 31 from the year before, the Beijing-based company announced yesterday. Net profit inched up 0.8 percent to CNY364 billion.

ICBC’s net interest spread and net interest margin both dropped 31 basis points to 1.41 percent and 1.61 percent, respectively, in the period because of lower loan prime rates, changes in the term structure of deposits, and other factors. These declines led to the lender’s net interest income to fall 5.3 percent to CNY655 billion.

In terms of non-interest income, ICBC’s revenue from service charges and commissions totaled CNY119.4 billion last year, down 7.7 percent from the previous year, mainly due to fluctuations in the capital market, changes in investors’ risk appetite, and reform in rates of publicly offered funds, the bank pointed out.

ICBC had outstanding non-performing loans of CNY353.5 billion and an NPL ratio of 1.36 percent as of Dec. 31, down 2 bps from a year before. Its NPL coverage ratio was 213.97 percent, up 4.5 percentage points.

Nonetheless, ICBC’s non-performing individual housing loans rose by CNY2.4 billion (USD332.1 million) in the period, driving the related ratio up 5 bps to 0.44 percent. Its credit card non-performing individual housing loans jumped CNY5.2 billion to CNY16.9 billion (USD2.3 billion), with the related ratio up 63 bps to 2.45 percent.

The lender’s tier-one capital adequacy ratio fell 47 bps to 15.17 percent, and its total capital adequacy ratio slid 16 bps to 19.10 percent, ICBC said.

ICBC’s shares [SHA: 601398] were trading down 1.9 percent at CNY5.26 (73 US cents) as of 2.30 p.m. in Shanghai today. Its Hong Kong-listed stock HKG: 1398] fell 0.8 percent to HKD3.94 (50 US cents).

Editor: Futura Costaglione