China Citic Bank Targets 10% Growth This Year After Profit Boost Hits Six-Year High
Tang Shihua
DATE:  Mar 27 2020
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China Citic Bank Targets 10% Growth This Year After Profit Boost Hits Six-Year High China Citic Bank Targets 10% Growth This Year After Profit Boost Hits Six-Year High

(Yicai Global) March 27 -- China Citic Bank will focus on business upgrades and digital transformation to improve its profitability this year after logging multi-year highs both in revenue and profit increases last year.

This year's goal is to boost the value of deposits and loans by around 10 percent, as well as to promote high-quality development, the Beijing-based lender said in its 2019 earnings report published yesterday.

Citic Bank's annual net profit was 8 percent up at CNY48 billion (USD6.8 billion) from 2018, the fastest clip in six years. Its revenue widened by 14 percent to CNY187.6 billion (USD26.5 billion), also the biggest increase in several years.

The lender's non-performing loan ratio was down 12 bips to 1.65 percent, the lowest in four years. The value of NPLs rose by CNY2.1 billion to CNY66.1 billion. The defaulters were mostly in the fields of manufacturing, wholesale, and retail. Over the year, the balance of corporate loans rose by nearly 6 percent to CNY1.78 trillion (USD252 billion).

The financial institution's total deposits climbed by 12 percent to CNY4.04 trillion by the end of last year. The value of new deposits doubled. Personal deposits exceeded CNY800 billion for the first time.

Citic Bank's total assets widened by 11 percent to CNY6.75 trillion due to increased lending and investment. Its liabilities rose at a similar clip to CNY6.21 trillion.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio, a measure of its health, dropped 3 bips to 12.44 percent. It had issued CNY40 billion worth of convertible bonds and a similar sum worth of non-fixed term capital bonds over the year to boost liquidity. Its tier-1 capital ratio was 10.2 percent, up 77 bips. That for core tier-1 was 7 bips up at 8.69 percent. 

Shares of Citic Bank [SHA:601998] rose 0.8 percent to CNY5.32 (US 75 cents) by noon. 

Editor: Emmi Laine

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Keywords:   China Citic Bank