The False Promise of Bank Profits

(Beijing) – While small and medium-sized enterprises struggled to keep noses above water last year, growth in China's banking sector went on swimmingly with several now reporting windfall profits.

It's the season for 2011 annual reports and the public wants to know: has China's banking sector been naughty?

According to data from the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the combined net profit for all Chinese banks reached an unprecedented high at 1.04 trillion yuan in 2011, or 2.85 billion yuan on average each day, up 36.3 percent from the previous year.