September 1 — The 16 listed banks in China generated total net profits of 465.45 billion yuan in the first half of 2011 on increases in net interest margins and
the rapid growth in revenues from commissions and fees, reports eastmoney.com. 

The five major state-owned banks, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398, 1398.HK), China Construction Bank (601939, 0939.HK), Bank of China
(601988, 3988.HK), Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) (601288, 1288.HK) and Bank of Communications (601328) posted total net profits of 365.79 billion yuan, accounting for 80 percent of the total.

The remaining 11 banks, which generated total net profits of less than 100 billion yuan, generally enjoyed faster earnings growth rates than the
major banks.

With the exception of ABC, which posted a 45.4 percent year-on-year growth in first half 2011 net profit, the five major banks recorded an approximately 30
percent growth in earnings.

Half of the smaller banks posted earnings growth rates of more than 40 percent year-on-year, with China Minsheng Banking Corporation (600016) and Shenzhen
Development Bank (000001) posting respective increases of 56.98 percent and 56 percent in net profits.

The central bank hiked the benchmark interest rates twice during the past six months, significantly improving the banks’ returns from their loans businesses.

Minsheng Bank had the highest net interest margin (NIM) of three percent, up 0.08 percentage point year-on-year. 

The NIM of China Merchants Bank (600036) hit 2.99 percent, up 0.43 percentage point year-on-year.

ABC recorded a 0.32 percentage point year-on-year growth in NIM to 2.79 percent, the highest among the five major banks.

With the exception of Bank of China, all the listed banks recorded growth rates of more than 40 percent year-on-year in revenue from commissions and
fees. 

Revenue from commissions and fees earned by all the listed banks totaled 218.69 billion yuan, accounting for 47 percent of the total net profits.

Hua Xia Bank (600015) posted the highest growth of 90.4 percent in revenue from commissions and fees, followed by Bank of Beijing’s growth of 88.59 percent.

Shares of Hua Xia Bank were up 0.38 percent to close at 10.58 yuan today.