Financial Services Association, March 26 (Reporter Shi Sitong) On March 26, Ping An Bank also listed and transferred non-performing assets at Yindeng Center. According to reports, since this year, Ping An Bank has intensively launched non-performing asset transfer projects. During the year, it has issued 33 relevant non-performing loan transfer notices at the Yindeng Center, involving 30 non-performing loans, with a total amount of outstanding principal and interest amounting to 12.158 billion yuan.

A CFA reporter noticed that since this year, more and more banks, from major state-owned banks to stock banks and urban agricultural commercial banks, have continued to speed up the disposal of non-performing assets. According to rough statistics, 23 banks have now published a total of about 75 pieces of non-performing asset transfer information at Yindeng Center.

According to industry experts, the asset quality of different types of banks currently remains differentiated. It is expected that the disposal of non-performing assets in the banking industry will accelerate in 2024. The overall scale of disposal will reach a new phased high, banks will further enhance their ability to withstand risk, and overall asset quality is expected to remain stable.

Ping An Bank has intensively transferred non-performing assets. It has launched 30 transfer projects during the year

According to the Yindeng Center, since March alone, Ping An Bank has issued 25 relevant non-performing loan transfer notices. Since the beginning of this year, Ping An Bank has successively issued a total of 33 relevant announcements (including 3 repeated listing projects). Of these, 3 are personal consumption and operating credit non-performing asset packages, and 27 are all public non-performing asset projects.

According to industry analysts, with the expansion of domestic non-performing asset disposal channels, some banks have increased the disposal of non-performing assets, which will help banks free up credit space, further improve asset quality, and increase profit levels.

Judging from the quality of assets, Ping An Bank's non-performing rate has been rising for two consecutive years. According to the data, as of the end of 2023, Ping An Bank's non-performing loan balance was 36.036 billion yuan, with a non-performing ratio of 1.06%, up 0.01 percentage points from the previous year. Among them, the non-performing ratio of corporate loans was 0.63%, up 0.02 percentage points from the previous year; the non-performing ratio of personal loans was 1.37%, up 0.05 percentage points.

Judging from performance performance, Ping An Bank's revenue in 2023 was 164.699 billion yuan, showing the first decline in the past five years (down 8.4% year on year); however, net profit increased 2.1% year-on-year to 46.455 billion yuan during the same period. In response, the bank also attributed positive profit growth to “driving operating cost reduction and efficiency through digital transformation, strengthening asset quality control, and increasing efforts to clear and dispose of non-performing assets.”

“The overall macroeconomic operation stabilized and improved in 2023, but the vitality of business entities still needs to be strengthened, and the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals to repay continues to be under pressure.” Ping An Bank said that in 2024, the quality of its assets will still be under pressure. In terms of corporate loans, its company will continue to focus on risks in the real estate industry, large group companies, etc., to promote risk prevention and mitigation, while continuing to strengthen the collection and disposal of non-performing assets, and continue to expand channels and methods for disposal of public non-performing assets. In terms of personal loans, it will also continue to increase the inspection rate of pre-loan policies, strictly control customer access, actively broaden collection channels, and step up efforts to dispose of non-performing loans, etc.

According to the disclosure, in 2023, Ping An Bank wrote off loans of 68.585 billion yuan, an increase of 14.7% over the previous year; the total amount of non-performing assets recovered was 32,595 billion yuan, of which 19.142 billion yuan was recovered (including the recovery of written off non-performing loans of 17.779 billion yuan).

Disposal of banks' non-performing assets has been accelerated, and the credit level of regional banks needs to be improved

In fact, judging from the information disclosed by the Yindeng Center, the banking sector has been active in transferring non-performing assets since this year. According to rough statistics, up to now, 23 banks have issued about 80 non-performing asset transfer notices, including 4 major state-owned banks, 9 stock banks, 2 urban commercial banks, 7 agricultural commercial banks, and 1 policy bank.

Among them, Ping An Bank issued the most intensive one. The 33 non-performing asset transfer announcements covered a total amount of 12.158 billion yuan in outstanding principal and interest; followed by Zhongyuan Bank, which issued a total of 12 project transfer announcements (including 4 repeatedly listed projects), involving a total amount of 371 million yuan. In addition, a number of banks, such as SPD, Everbright, CCB, and CMB, have also launched a number of non-performing asset transfer projects.

In recent years, as the banking industry continues to step up its efforts to dispose of non-performing assets, the overall asset quality of the industry has also continued to improve. According to regulatory announcements, commercial banks disposed of a total of 3 trillion yuan in non-performing assets in 2023. At the end of the fourth quarter of that year, commercial banks had a non-performing loan balance of 3.2 trillion yuan, which was basically the same; the non-performing loan ratio was 1.59%, down 0.02 percentage points from month to month.

According to Zheng Jiawei, chief analyst at Yongxing Securities Research Institute, in addition to regulatory requirements, commercial banks' risk appetite has also been reduced in recent years. By actively disposing of non-performing assets, risks can be cleared as soon as possible and taken lightly. In the future, as the economy recovers, banks can have more room to achieve a significant recovery in earnings while interest spreads remain stable.

Looking ahead to 2024, Cheng Ka-wai believes that during the economic downturn, the disposal of non-performing assets in the banking sector will accelerate. It is expected that the overall scale of disposal will reach a new phased high, and banks' ability to withstand risk will be further strengthened. “However, this also depends on the restoration of economic fundamentals and the adjustment of the credit structure of commercial banks.” he said.

At the same time, Dagong International also pointed out in the latest research report that overall, the asset quality of different types of banks remains differentiated. Among them, the credit level of regional banks needs to be improved. In particular, bank credit risk in regions with weak economic development requires continuous attention. It is expected that in 2024, as policies to support real estate are introduced one after another, local debt resolution work continues to advance, credit risk in key bank areas may be mitigated to a certain extent, and banks continue to dispose of stock risk, and overall asset quality is expected to remain stable.