ABC posts disappointing first-half results

Agricultural Bank of China Ltd posted an increase in bad loans during the first half of this year while the growth in net profit slowed amid China's economic downturn.

As the nation's third-largest lender by market value, the bank's outstanding non-performing loans rose to 97.5 billion yuan ($15.8 billion) as of June 30 from 92 billion yuan on Dec 31, 2013. Its NPL ratio increased from 1.22 percent to 1.24 percent during the same period, bank officials told reporters at a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

Its net profit in the first half rose by 12.6 percent year-on-year, falling from a 14.7 percent growth a year earlier. Like other domestic lenders, Agricultural Bank is facing shrinking net interest margin during the process of China's liberalization of interest rates.