China

The lender’s total bad loans reached $906.53mn in the first half of 2011, an increase of $83.62mn from a year ago.

China Construction Bank realized an operating income of 197.246 billion yuan or around US$30.82 billion for a year-on-year increase of 28.31 percent in the first half of 2011.

Bank of Communications recorded a first half profit increase of 29.67 year-on-year, helped by a widened net interest margin and higher commission fees.

The Swiss bank used the US$100 million quota granted under its QFII licence by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in China.

Once valued at $20bn, the BofA stake is now seen to be worth several billion dollars less.

IFC already sold its 7% stake in the lender while HSBC plans to divest its 8% stake.

Agricultural Bank of China Limited successfully led the 1-billion-yuan RMB bond underwriting for CITIC Pacific Limited's 5-year maturity with a coupon rate of 2.7%.

ABC launched its overseas system operation service area at the data center of its Head Office and has successfully tookover the core banking system of the Hong Kong Branch.

A total of RMB 294.4 billion of loans has been extended to small enterprises through ICBC small business centers, during the first six months of the year. These account for 61% of total small business loans in ICBC. The total amount of small business loans outstanding reached RMB 377.3 billion, representing 64% of the total. The result fully demonstrated the advantage of dedicated ICBC services to small enterprises.

ICBC Beijing signed cooperation agreements with Beijing Federation of Industry & Commerce and Beijing Municipal Private and Individual Economy Association to provide financial support to the non-state-owned SMEs in Beijing.

In an effort to help small business owners in various merchandise marts access bank loans, ICBC has recently launched the "Merchant Friend Loan".

ICBC Leasing is giving tailored financial leasing solutions are provided to assist SMEs in production expansion and improvement.

The $600mn transaction aims to strengthen the lender’s business network across Latin America and enhance our operating capability in the Americas.

China Merchants Bank's first-half profits increased 40.12 percent year-on-year to 18.5 billion yuan or US$2.87 billion.

Despite cutting 10% of its total staff, the lender continues to employ in one of its high-growth markets.

Seeking funding overseas has lower costs compared with local loan rates but seen affect the domestic renminbi loan market.