China Construction Bank Announces 2018 Q1 Results

Core Indicators Achieving Steady Performance and Profitability Continuing to Improve

Beijing/Hong Kong, 26 April 2018 – China Construction Bank Corporation (“the Bank” or “CCB”) (A-share stock code: 601939; H-share stock code: 939) released its results for the first quarter of 2018 (the data herein were prepared under the International Financial Reporting Standards on a consolidated basis and expressed in RMB unless otherwise stated). As at 31 March 2018, the Bank’s total assets reached RMB22,848.74 billion, an increase of RMB724.36 billion, or 3.27%, from the end of 2017. 

This year, CCB has continued to implement new development concepts, adhered to sound and compliant operations and actively undertook social responsibilities. It has been supporting the real economy through reform and innovation. The core indicators performed well and profitability continued to increase. In the first quarter of 2018, the Bank reported a net profit of RMB 74.08 billion, of which the net profit attributable to equity shareholders of the Bank was RMB73.82 billion, up by 5.47% and 5.43% year-on-year respectively. The annualized return on average assets and annualized return on average equity were 1.32% and 17.05% respectively. The net interest income reached RMB122.68 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.74%. The net interest spread and net interest margin were 2.22% and 2.35%, 0.21 and 0.22 percentage points higher than those in the same period of last year respectively.

CCB has been proactively following national policies to support the development of the real economy and strictly implementing regulatory policies. With its continuous efforts in service fees exemption and reduction for customers, the income from some products saw a year-on-year drop. While deposits and loans grew steadily, the Bank’s net fee and commission income for the first quarter of 2018 decreased by 2.16% year-on-year to RMB 37.93 billion.

With regards to asset quality, following the changes of national industrial policy and leveraging on supply-side structural reform, CCB has been focusing on improving its risk prevention and control mechanism. The Bank contributed to safeguarding the bottom line of no systemic financial risks, playing an important role in stabilizing the market and reducing risks. Its comprehensive risk management system has been improved and the good momentum of improvement in asset quality was further strengthened. As of the end of March 2018, the Bank’s NPLs were RMB196.35 billion, an increase of RMB4.06 billion from the end of 2017; the NPL ratio stood at 1.49%, same as that at the end of 2017; the NPL provision coverage ratio was 189.48%.

As the results of the first quarter indicate, as of 31 March 2018, CCB’s total capital adequacy ratio, Tier 1 capital ratio and Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio, which were calculated in accordance with the Capital Rules for Commercial Banks (Provisional), were 15.63%, 13.71% and 13.12% respectively, all meeting the regulatory requirements.

Overall, CCB has sustained sound business performance in the first quarter of 2018. Faced with an increasingly complex external environment, the Bank showed noticeable improvement in its overall strength, and made achievements in serving the real economy and proactively supporting the supply-side structural reform and critical national strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the integrated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. With an accurate grasp of the orientation of the national housing policy, the Bank actively explored new models for the multi-pronged, market-oriented development of its housing rental business, contributing to the structural reform of the country’s housing supply. The Bank has taken the initiative to carry forward a strategic, systematic and comprehensive self-reform. It was the first among the large-scale state-owned commercial banks to establish a fintech company. Through market-based fintech innovation and its Blue Ocean Strategy, CCB continues to push forward the reform of traditional commercial banks and leverages the power of science and technology to steadily enhance its operational capabilities.