China CITIC Bank's profit growth slows, bad loans up

BEIJING -- China CITIC Bank posted lackluster profit growth and rising bad loans for 2014 amid a continued economic slowdown.

The net profits of the bank stood at 40.69 billion yuan ($6.64 billion) last year, up 3.87 percent year on year, according to an annual report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange late Friday.

The growth rate was much lower than 26.24 percent registered in 2013.

China's banks saw slowing profit growth in recent years due to the country's ongoing interest rate liberalization and increasing downward pressure on the economy.

The bank's non-performing loans (NPL) climbed to 28.45 billion yuan, with NPL ratio rising 0.27 percentage point to 1.3 percent, the report showed.

The bank attributed the bad loan increase to the economic climate and rising risks of borrowers, especially small and medium-sized manufacturers and trade companies.

Total assets of the bank amounted to 4.14 trillion yuan, up 13.67 percent from a year earlier, the report said.