Top State banks' asset quality weakens in H1

The asset quality of major State-owned banks weakened further during the first half of 2014 under the pressure of a slowing economy and restructuring, while their risk exposure expanded to more regions and sectors.

The five largest Chinese lenders had 423.49 billion yuan ($54.64 billion) in nonperforming loans as of June 30, up 49.18 billion yuan from Dec 31. Their average NPL ratio went up 5 basis points to 1.08 percent.

Commercial banks reported a total of bad loans of 694.4 billion yuan on June 30 with an average NPL ratio of 1.08 percent, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement.