14 | Wednesday, August 18, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY BUSINESS Financial Banks report robust H1 performance giants to Growth in profit further tap for lenders gets boost from nation’s A shares economic recovery BEIJING — Foreign-invested finan- in first six months cial institutions are racing to enter China’s securities sector as the coun- By JIANG XUEQING try pushes ahead to further open its [email protected] domestic capital market. JPMorgan recently announced on Several commercial banks in its website that the China Securities China posted double-digit growth Regulatory Commission has in net profit in the first half, while approved the registration of JPMor- their nonperforming loan ratios gan International Finance Ltd taking stood still or even declined, recent- a 100 percent stake in JPMorgan ly issued interim reports and Securities (China) Co Ltd, making it financial previews of the sector the first foreign firm to fully own a said. securities venture in the country. China Merchants Bank Co Ltd, a Last year, the investment banking national joint-stock commercial giant received approval from the lender based in Shenzhen, Guang- CSRC to increase its current stake in dong province, saw its net profit JPMorgan Futures Company Ltd to attributable to shareholders of the 100 percent from 49 percent, ena- bank increase by 22.82 percent bling it to become the first foreign year-on-year to 61.15 billion yuan firm to wholly operate a futures ven- ($9.44 billion) during the first six ture here. months. “China represents one of the larg- Bank of Ningbo Co Ltd recorded est opportunities in the world for a 21.37 percent growth in year-on- many of our clients and for JPMor- year net profit attributable to gan,” said Jamie Dimon, chairman shareholders of the parent compa- and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. “Our ny in the first half. The commercial scale and global capabilities give us a lender headquartered in Ningbo, unique ability to help Chinese com- Zhejiang province, has continuous- panies grow internationally and also ly improved its profit-making support global investors as they structure and diversified its sources expand into China’s maturing capital of profits, with retail banking and markets.” capital-light businesses contribut- A statement from the CSRC said ing a higher percentage of profits, Pedestrians pass a China Merchants Bank outlet in Shanghai in October. fan jianlei / for china daily the regulator has also accepted the its interim report said. application of Standard Chartered Over the same period, Jiangsu Hong Kong for a license to set up a Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial return on assets. Their net interest industry chains, so the bank could brokerage in the Chinese mainland. Bank Co Ltd, Wuxi Rural Commer- margins have also stabilized and better deal with a downtrend in the The company said thanks to the cial Bank Co Ltd and Jiangsu ... the rebound in profit of the real economy rebounded,” Zhou said. economic cycle and an industrial rapid recovery of the Chinese econo- Changshu Rural Commercial In the first half, China effectively structure adjustment. my, its operating income in China Bank Co Ltd also saw their net will be good for the improvement of banks’ contained financial risks in key are- The drop of NPL ratios is partly rose 20 percent year-on-year in the profits climb 19.68 percent, 15.38 asset quality and give strong support to high- as and overall credit risk was con- due to increased efforts to dispose first half, while its pre-tax profit percent and 15.24 percent, respec- trollable. The nonperforming loan of nonperforming loans, said Liu of increased significantly. tively. quality development of the banking sector.” ratio of commercial banks was 1.76 the CBIRC. Last Friday, the CSRC gave the nod Commercial banks in China real- to FIL Asia Holdings Pte Ltd to set up Liu Zhongrui, deputy director of the Statistics, IT and Risk percent by the end of the second “The banking sector disposed of ized a total net profit of 1.1 trillion Surveillance Department of the CBIRC quarter, down 0.05 percentage a historical record 3.02 trillion a fund management firm wholly yuan in the first half, up 11.1 percent point from the end of the last quar- yuan of nonperforming assets in owned by overseas investors. Citi- year-on-year, said the China Bank- ter, the CBIRC said. 2020. It continued to dispose of bank (China) Co Ltd has also ing and Insurance Regulatory Department of the CBIRC, said at a banking sector,” Liu said. China Merchants Bank 482.7 billion yuan of NPAs in the obtained a business license to provide Commission. news conference on July 14. Zhou Ce, an analyst with Chasing announced a decline in the NPL first quarter, which exceeded the securities investment fund custody During the same period of last “The banking sector has forgone Securities Co Ltd, said in a report ratio by 0.06 percentage point from amount of the same period last services for publicly-offered funds year, commercial banks realized a part of its profit to stabilize the that the Chinese banking sector’s the end of last year to 1.01 percent as year. We expect that the figure of and private equity funds in China. total net profit of about 1 trillion real economy since the COVID-19 operating environment has of June 30. Wuxi Rural Commercial NPA disposal in the first half will These developments not only yuan, falling 9.4 percent on a yearly pandemic started to affect the improved and its fundamentals are Bank said its NPL ratio fell 0.17 per- also surpass that of the same period highlight the enthusiasm of foreign basis. Due to the low-base effect, macroeconomy more than a year recovering. This led to better interim centage point to 0.93 percent over last year,” he said. financial institutions for operating the regulator expects the Chinese ago. Although the profit of the results of listed banks and will boost the period, while Bank of Ningbo’s The regulator urged banks to in China’s financial market, but also banking sector to see significant banking sector fluctuated tempo- the valuation of banking stocks. NPL ratio stood at 0.79 percent. conduct comprehensive risk assess- reflect the resolve of regulators to profit growth in the first half, which rarily, the rebound in profit of the “Commercial banks’ profit growth Bank of Ningbo said it took a ments, have sufficient provisions advance financial opening-up. is similar to the feature of various real economy will be good for the recovered strongly in the first half. series of risk management meas- for loan impairment, make plans In recent years, more than 100 industries of the real economy, Liu improvement of banks’ asset qual- Benefiting from the economic recov- ures including risk warning, post- for dealing with a rebound in non- foreign-invested banks and insur- Zhongrui, deputy director of the ity and will give strong support to ery, they further consolidated asset lending revisits of businesses, performing loans and further ramp ance, securities, payment and clear- Statistics, IT and Risk Surveillance high-quality development of the quality while maintaining a steady industry research and studies of up efforts to dispose of NPLs. ing institutions have been approved and set up. They have been actively expanding the scope of financial businesses, particularly after the Chinese government scrapped for- Lenovo doubling R&D investments for edge in digitalization eign ownership limits on securities firms and mutual funds in 2020. The global financial market has By MA SI adjacent non-PC devices such as gradually entered the stage of recov- [email protected] tablets, smartphones, embedded ery and expansion, which will drive computing, and other smart devi- international capital to emerging Lenovo Group Ltd will further ces. economies, and China is the preferred invest in innovation and aims to Eager to capitalize on its service- investment destination for these double its research and develop- led transformation growth oppor- investors, said Xie Yaxuan, an analyst ment investments over the next tunities, Lenovo brought together with China Merchants Securities. three years, as the Chinese tech service and solution teams and HuaAn Funds attributed the heavyweight works to tap into capabilities from across the compa- attractiveness of Chinese financial opportunities from accelerated dig- ny to form a dedicated organization assets to the country’s comparative italization and intelligent transfor- — the Solutions & Services Group advantages in areas including eco- mation. — which got to work on April 1. For nomic growth momentum, reserve The plan came after the Beijing- the quarter, the Solutions & Servi- policy space and an appealing based company reported sterling ces Group delivered record revenue A-share market. fiscal first quarter results, with its of $1.8 billion, Lenovo said. In the first half, net inflows of pre-tax income almost doubling to The IT industry is transforming funds through “northbound trad- $650 million in the quarter ending with customers needing more ing,” or money invested from Hong on June 30. sophisticated IT services, creating Kong into the Chinese mainland Yang Yuanqing, chairman and huge opportunities for solution ser- through the stock connect program, CEO of Lenovo, said: “The acceler- vices and managed services, includ- surged 89 percent year-on- year to ated digital and intelligent trans- ing the subscription-based as-a- 223.6 billion yuan ($34.51 billion). formation has created significant service model, said Xiang Ligang, During the same period, overseas market opportunities globally. Le-­ director-general of the Information investors have increased their hold- novo is successfully seizing these as Consumption Alliance. ings of yuan-denominated bonds by we transform from a device compa- As the world’s largest PC maker, over 450 billion yuan, up 40 percent ny to a services and solutions pro- Lenovo posted record operating year-on-year. vider.” profit of $1.1 billion in its intelligent Yet there are also many challenges, “Going forward, we will continue devices group in the quarter ending according to a State Council execu- to increase R&D investment, aim- in June. tive meeting in July. The meeting said ing to double it over the next three Lenovo said the COVID-19 pan- China will continue advancing open- years. We will further improve our demic has changed how people live Consumers browse products at a Lenovo store in Beijing in January. provided to china daily ing-up in an orderly way, and fully operational excellence and we and work, with PCs returning to leverage both the domestic and inter- remain committed to green innova- the center of digital lives. The PC national markets and resources so tion and corporate citizenship to refreshment cycle has shortened, PC market’s hot streak continued to spending priorities after nearly a the country remains a popular desti- achieve long-term sustainable prof- the penetration rate has increased $1.1 drive heavy investments from the year of aggressive PC buying,” nation for foreign investment. itability increases,” Yang said. and total PC demand until 2025 billion supply side. Mahajan said. The meeting stressed the market In the quarter ending June 30, will at least remain at current lev- operating profit from Lenovo’s But challenges exist. Neha Maha- To better prepare for the future, access threshold of foreign-invested Lenovo’s revenue hit $16.9 billion, els, with commercial demand intelligent devices group in the jan, senior research analyst with Lenovo is also eyeing the internet financial institutions such as banks up 27 percent year-on-year. Its net rebounding quickly. quarter ending in June IDC’s devices and displays group, of things market for growth. The and insurance companies will be income margin reached 2.8 per- Worldwide shipments of tradi- said in a research note the PC mar- company said the IoT market is refined, rules concerning cross-bor- cent, the highest in many years. tional PCs, inclusive of desktops, ket faces mixed signals as far as expected to surge at a compound der transactions between parent and Looking ahead, Lenovo said it notebooks, and workstations, demand is concerned. annual growth rate of 11 percent subsidiary firms of financial institu- sees continued opportunities for reached 83.6 million units in the From April to June, Lenovo “With businesses opening back through 2025. As opportunities in tions will be improved, and channels sustainable growth and profitabili- second quarter of this year, up extended its lead over rivals such as up, demand potential in the com- non-PC businesses grow rapidly, and methods for foreign capital to ty improvements across its busi- 13.2 percent year-on-year, said HP Inc in the PC market, with its mercial segment appears promis- Lenovo said it will leverage its participate in the domestic financial ness, in areas such as vertical preliminary data from market global shipments of PCs exceeding ing. However, there are also early broad customer base to cross sell market will be optimized. solutions, infrastructure solutions, research company International 20 million units, up 14.9 percent indicators of consumer demand non-PC products to drive sustaina- premium personal computers and Data Corp. year-on-year, IDC said, adding the slowing down as people shift ble profit growth. Xinhua