China Merchants Bank looking to spin off units
China Merchants Bank said on Thursday that it was interested in spinning off and listing businesses such as its wealth management and credit card units.
The bank reported that net profit grew by 8.06 per cent last year to 55.9 billion yuan (HK$69.5 billion).
Bank president and chief executive Tian Huiyu said it was interested in potential business spin-offs a day after China Everbright Bank said it was considering such reforms.
The mainland's banking regulator recently said it would encourage the listing of certain business units as part of state ownership reform.
“We believe CMB will be a big beneficiary [of such spin-offs] given its relatively high exposure to the credit card and wealth management business,” Leon Qi, an analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets, said in a note on Thursday.
Non-performing loans jumped to 27.9 billion yuan from 9.6 billion yuan in 2013. The NPL ratio climbed to 1.11 per cent, up 0.28 percentage points, while allowance coverage for NPLs fell 33 percentage points.
The bank said it expected bad loans to increase this year.
