This grew by 8.1% on a year-on-year basis.

By the end of the first three months of the year (Q1 2024), China’s banking institutions’ total RMB and foreign currency assets reached $60.14t, an 8.1% increase year-on-year (YoY), data from the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) showed.

Large commercial banks held $25.9t of these assets, up 11.2% YoY, comprising 43.1% of the total. Joint-stock commercial banks’ assets were $10.05t, up 4.1% YoY, making up 16.7% of the total.

Loans to micro and small enterprises (MSEs), including loans to individual business owners and MSE owners, totalled $10.42t. Inclusive loans to MSEs with a single account credit limit under $1.4m reached $4.4t, a 21.1% increase YoY.

The outstanding balance of non-performing loans (NPLs) of commercial banks was $476b, up by $19.8b from the previous quarter, with an NPL ratio of 1.59%, stable compared to the previous quarter.

Performing loans stood at $29.15t, with normal loans at $28.5t and special-mention loans at $644b.

Commercial banks’ net profit was $94.12b, a 0.7% YoY increase, with an average ROE of 9.57% and ROA of 0.74%, both showing slight increases from the previous quarter.

Loan loss provisions totalled $966b, up $37.77b from the last quarter. The provision coverage ratio was 204.54%, down 0.6 percentage points, whilst the loan provision ratio was 3.26%, down 0.01 percentage points from the previous quarter.

The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of commercial banks was 15.43%, tier-1 CAR was 12.35%, and core tier-1 CAR was 10.77%.

The liquidity coverage ratio was 150.84%, down 0.76 percentage points from the previous quarter. The net stable funding ratio was 125.33%, and the liquidity ratio was 68.66%, up 0.78 percentage points.

The RMB excess reserve ratio was 1.7%, down 0.54 percentage points, and the loan-to-deposit ratio was 78.8%, up 0.11 percentage points from the last quarter.