SEVEN Chinese listed banks have reported a more than 30 percent jump in their total net profits last year, boosted by rising interest income, according to their financial results.

China Construction Bank, the Agricultural Bank of China, Huaxia Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corp, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, the Industrial Bank and Shenzhen Development Bank have posted a total net income of 391.4 billion yuan (US$61.9 billion), a surge of 31.68 percent, according to calculations derived from the lenders' earning reports.

The major profit driver is net interest income, which rose 27.67 percent to 844.4 billion yuan for the seven lenders in 2011 from the previous year, accounting for 80.56 percent of the total operating income over the same period.

CCB's net interest margin widened by 0.21 percentage point to 2.7 percent in 2011, while AgBank's added 0.28 percentage point to 2.85 percent.

Another significant driver was the even stronger surge in fees and commission income compared with net interest income. They surged an annual 45.71 percent to 193.5 billion yuan last year.

Hong Qi, Minsheng's president, said earlier: "We are embarrassed to announce (the results) as the bank's profit is too high."

But Liu Mingkang, former chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, expected the banks to deliver lower income this year.

Source:shanghaidaily