Chinese Banks’ First-Quarter Profit Growth Slides to 1.3% on Lower Margins

What’s new: Commercial banks’ net profit growth slipped to 1.3% year-on-year in the first quarter, 6.1 percentage points lower than the same period of 2022, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).

Banks’ narrowing interest margins and rising provisions in anticipation of higher nonperforming loan (NPL) levels are behind the profit slowdown in recent years, the regulator said in a closed-door press briefing on Wednesday.