On the evening of August 22, today, Industrial Bank released its half-year performance report. The data shows that as of the end of the reporting period, Industrial Bank's total assets were 1.035009 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.89% compared to the end of the previous year; the balance of various deposits in local and foreign currencies was 538.5981 billion yuan, an increase of 4.85% compared to the end of the previous year; the balance of various loans in local and foreign currencies was 566.9093 billion yuan, an increase of 3.81% compared to the end of the previous year.

During the reporting period, Industrial Bank achieved operating income of 113.043 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 1.80%. Among them, net interest income reached 74.891 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 4.22%. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company reached 43.049 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 0.86%, higher than the average profit growth rate of 0.4% for commercial banks announced by the regulatory authorities.

In addition, the cost-to-income ratio of Industrial Bank in the first half of the year was 25.41%, a decrease of 1.35 percentage points year-on-year.

In the semi-annual report, Industrial Bank believes that the operating results meet expectations: the year-on-year growth rates of operating income and net profit have turned positive, and the control of deposit costs has achieved phased results, with a deposit interest rate of 2.06%, a year-on-year decrease of 20 basis points, reaching the median level among similar joint-stock commercial banks.

At the same time, Industrial Bank continues to increase the intensity of write-offs, with a provision for impairment losses of 34.304 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 10.20%, and a provision coverage ratio of 237.82%. The intensity of account sales and case clearance has increased, achieving a group's account sales and case clearance of 6.713 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8%.

Steady operation of public and private business and effective control of liability costs

The data shows that in the first half of the year, the main indicators of Industrial Bank's corporate business increased by about 5%, relatively balanced. Among them, the number of corporate and individual customers grew by 1.4708 million, an increase of 4.96% compared to the end of the previous year; the balance of local and foreign currency corporate loans (excluding bills) was 3.43514 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.43%; the balance of local and foreign currency corporate deposits was 3.93741 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.20%; the average daily balance of low-cost corporate deposits was 2.225389 trillion yuan, an increase of 118.17 billion yuan compared to the end of the previous year, with a growth rate of 5.61%.

In addition, the average interest rate for RMB corporate deposits in China is 1.92%, a decrease of 25 basis points from the end of last year.

Industrial Bank stated that the main strategy for its corporate business is to continue to lay out five major new tracks, deepen its presence in segmented fields, continuously expand its customer base, optimize its asset structure, and control the cost of liabilities.

In terms of retail business, the growth rate of retail deposits is higher than that of loans. Data shows that in the first half of the year, Industrial Bank had 104.5162 million retail customers, an increase of 3.20%; retail deposit balance of 1,452.492 billion yuan, an increase of 92.594 billion yuan from the end of last year, a growth of 6.81%; retail loans (excluding credit cards) balance of 1,502.219 billion yuan, an increase of 13.891 billion yuan from the end of last year, a growth of 0.93%.

In addition, the balance of retail financial assets (excluding third-party custody market value) was 3,157.949 billion yuan, an increase of 4.90% from the end of last year.

Industrial Bank stated that in the first half of the year, the focus was on optimizing the structure of retail deposits, improving the quality of retail credit, accelerating the transformation and development of credit cards, and accelerating digital transformation and empowerment.

In terms of profit indicators, in the first half of the year, whether in corporate or retail, Industrial Bank focused on effective control of cost of liabilities, achieved positive growth in net interest income, and effectively controlled expenses under a 2.65% year-on-year decline in non-interest net income. The cost-to-income ratio was maintained at a reasonable level, and at the same time, asset quality was strengthened, impairment provision was fully recognized, and net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company was 43.049 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.86%.

Provisions are in an acceptable range, with increased write-offs.

As of the end of the reporting period, Industrial Bank's non-performing loan balance was 61.018 billion yuan, an increase of 2.527 billion yuan from the end of last year, with a non-performing loan ratio of 1.08%, up 0.01 percentage points from the end of last year. The balance of loans categorized as "attention" was 97.972 billion yuan, an increase of 13.523 billion yuan from the end of last year, with an "attention" loan ratio of 1.73%, up 0.18 percentage points from the end of last year.

The industrial bank explained that during the reporting period, some indicators such as attention rate and overdue rate fluctuated slightly due to the slowdown in macroeconomic growth, low-level operation of the real estate market, and the impact of factors such as strong supply and weak demand. At the same time, the bank proactively increased the exposure to potential risk projects.

In addition, during the reporting period, a total of 34.304 billion yuan of asset impairment losses were provided, and the end-of-period loan loss provision ratio was 2.56%, a decrease of 0.07 percentage points from the previous year-end; the provision coverage ratio was 237.82%, a decrease of 7.39 percentage points from the previous year-end.

The industrial bank believes that the provision is in an acceptable range. During the reporting period, the company provided 34.304 billion yuan in impairment losses, a year-on-year increase of 10.20%, and a provision coverage ratio of 237.82%, maintaining an adequate level. The collection efforts for account sales cases have been strengthened, achieving a collection of 6.713 billion yuan for the group's account sales cases, an 8% increase year-on-year.

Caixin reporter noticed that the announcement of the resolution of the second meeting of the eleventh board of directors on the same day stated that the board of directors unanimously passed the "Proposal on Writing off Bad Debt Projects with a Single Loss of more than 0.3 billion yuan (Batch III of 2024)".

Regarding the next step, the industrial bank stated that the company will adhere to the risk bottom line, adhere to the principle of substantial risk judgment, maintain a high-pressure situation for asset quality control, optimize the control mechanisms for key risk areas, enhance risk recognition and response capabilities in complex and changing market environments, dispose of non-performing assets timely and efficiently, strengthen cost control of risks, and continue to maintain stable operation of asset quality.