Big banks beat analysts' 2016 profit forecasts

BEIJING - Earnings reports this week from Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, China Construction Bank Corp and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd showed that their provisions for losses on bad loans - or nonperforming loans - stabilized last year, helping them to post higher-than-estimated profits.

The lenders' nonperforming loan ratios either declined or, in ICBC's case, held steady, a sign that the banks benefited from a rebound late last year in the world's second-biggest economy. That's a welcome change for an industry that has been contending with narrower margins, as well as tighter regulations on mortgage lending and off-balance-sheet wealth-management products.

"We have started to see signs of stabilization and slight improvement in ICBC's asset quality," the bank's Chairman Yi Huiman said at a news conference in Beijing on Thursday. "I believe our asset quality will be better in 2017 than 2016. As the Chinese economy recovers, the external operating environment for banks is also improving."