CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK BOOKS 11.84% NPL RATIO TO OCT.

AsiaPulse News, November, 2003

BEIJING, Nov 20 Asia Pulse - The Construction Bank of China (CBC), one of China's four state-owned commercial banks, posted an 11.84 per cent non-performing loan (NPL) ratio at the end of October, down 4.06 percentage points from the beginning of this year, according to bank sources.

The ratio was the lowest among the country's four big state-owned commercial banks and lower than the 12-percent goal set for 2003 early this year, the sources said.

An accumulated 60.8 billion yuan (US$7.3 billion) worth of bad assets had been disposed of by the end of October, with half recovered in cash.

The bank, with its Asset Preservation Department set up in 1996, has actively explored ways to dispose of and recover its non-performing assets, according to the...