June 12, 2009

The profitability of most Chinese commercial banks has improved in the second quarter over the first quarter of this year, commercial bank officials told China Securities Journal Thursday.Wang Lili, deputy president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), said that performance of the bank's various businesses kept rising in April and May, and she predicted that ICBC's profitability in the second quarter will exceed that of the first quarter.

Currently, ICBC is least pressed by narrowed interest rate spreads among all listed banks, and is now re-structuring its business mix, Wang said.Peng Chun, deputy president of Bank of Communications, said that the general operating performance and profit growth of China's banking industry are expected to escape the bottom they've been treading since the fourth quarter of last year, benefiting from the slowed decline in the interest rate margin and probable economic recovery.