Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited

I'm Dong Jianjun. Today, we're honored to have with us Mr. Tian Fenglin, Board Secretary of ICBC, along with heads from key departments and subsidiaries, including corporate banking, personal banking, institutional banking, inclusive finance, Credit Management, Finance and Accounting, Assets and Liability Management, International Banking Technology Data Management Research Institute, Financial Markets, Asset Management, Investment Banking, Personal Loans, Credit Card, and ICBC Wealth Management. Now I will briefly outline our key performance indicators. ICBC Q1 results have been officially released. Overall, the bank achieved its strongest start in recent years, exceeding Expectations First key profitability indicators showed positive growth with higher YOY increases. In Q1, group revenue reached $222 billion, up 8.4% YOY. Net profit was $88 billion, up 3.9%. Net interest income as a core revenue driver rose 7.5% YOY. It's and other non-interest income surging 38.9%. Second, assets and liabilities grew steadily. Proactively supporting national priorities and policy packages, ICBC strengthened its role in serving the real economy. By quarter end, total group assets rose 4.3% from year end to RMB 55.77 trillion, making ICBC the world's first commercial bank to exceed 55 trillion total assets. Total loans reached RMB 31.71 trillion, up 3.8%. Financial investments was 17.87 trillion, up 5.7%. Deposit competitiveness improved with customer deposits at 38.59 trillion, up 3.4% from year-end. And average daily balances up 4.19%. Personal and corporate deposits grew in a balanced manner. Thirdly, risk management remained robust. Intelligent risk control capabilities and comprehensive risk governance was enhanced. NPL ratio was stable at 1.31%. Provision coverage ratio rose to 214.38%. NPL disposals totaled 70.5 billion in Q1, 15.1 billion YOY, the write-off efficiency ratio reached 2.2. Risk resilience and NPL resolution capabilities strengthened further. That concludes the overview of our Q1 performance. We now begin the Q&A session. Please identify yourself with name and institution. Thank you very much. Let's take the first question. Please identify yourself with name and institution. Thank you. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to raise the first question. I'm Mei Yan from UBS. My question concerns loan growth. I have seen the disclosed results. I should congratulate all of you for the robust results better than expectations from the market. My question is, according to the monthly social financing data from the central bank, Q1 saw slower worldwide growth in corporate loans, continued contraction in bill financing, and an ongoing downward trend in credit expansion. We have also heard that in April, the central bank will hope that the bank can grow more I don't know whether it's true. For ICBC, how did you perform on loan deployment? What's your full year outlook? Thank you. For this question, I'll invite asset and liability departments to answer with supplements with corporate banking departments. On the corporate loan growth, I have two observations for your reference. First, for total financing, we have seen that overall corporate financing growth remains stable. According to PBOC Q1 data, total financing to corporate sector loans, funds, and equity combined grew by 8.3% of 0.4 percentage points from the same period last year. This growth rate has been broadly stable at around 8% since H2 of 2024 for our bank. As of end March, corporate financing under the same definition grew by 11.5% in line with the overall trend. Second, from loan growth, corporate loan growth has indeed moderated by the end of Q1. Outstanding corporate loans nationwide grew by 8.6%, down 0.7 percentage points from last year. We see a similar pattern on our bank. Domestic RMB corporate loans grew by 10.7%, down 1.8 percentage points YOY. We believe there are two main reasons behind this. First is the base effect. During the 14th five-year plan, counter-cyclical policies were strengthened. and large state-owned banks took on greater responsibility in credit supply. As the base has risen rapidly, loan growth is naturally normalizing. Second, there has been a positive shift in the financing structure. In the current low interest rate environment, corporates are more willing to issue bonds which has partly substituted for traditional bank lending in helping reducing finance costs, posing pressure for bank, which is conducive to reducing financing costs for corporates. According to PBOC data, NQ1 corporate loans increased by $60 billion less, while bond financing increased by over $500 billion more. In response, we have also stepped up our bond investments. At the end of March, our corporate bond investments grew by 37.9% YOY, significantly faster than corporate loans. Therefore, our credit extension in Q1 reflects steady overall growth with a more optimized structure by end March. Our domestic RMB loans grew by 6.9% YOY, higher than the national level at 1.2 percentage points. Corporate loans grew by 10.7%, 2.1 percentage points above the market. Lending to key areas, manufacturing, inclusive finance, green finance, strategic emerging industries, agriculture-related sectors, and private enterprises all grew faster than the average. Looking ahead, we will place greater Emphasis on balance and targeted credit allocation in total volume. We aim to maintain steady growth. In pacing, we'll avoid front-loading and ensure more even deployment. In allocation, we'll focus on major national strategies, key sectors, and weak links while strengthening financial support for consumer spending. Meanwhile, we'll actively adapt to changes in the overall financing structure and maintain solid growth in bond investments. Supplements from the corporate banking. For ICBC, our credit to the credit to the corporates. We grasp the window for the corporates after the Spring Festival. First, the volume increased with high growth of loans. In Q1, the corporate loans have increased by have increased by 300 billion. The balance was over 18 trillion, the first of its kind, providing solid foundation for the real economy. Second, the structure is optimized, meeting the requirements for the industries. Our supply of credit to the industrial, to the technology finance was over 4 trillion. Our increase to two majors have increased by $70 billion. Thirdly, our reserve has been strengthened. We continue to solidify the medium to long-term credit extension, which is balanced. Our supply for the projects has accounted for 90%, which paid the foundation for the total. So looking ahead, ICBC will fully implement the spirit of the April 28th Central Political Bureau meeting, and we will continue to enhance both intensity and precision for our support for the economy. We'll further increase corporate lending to ensure the loan growth remains aligned with the economic growth and effective credits. In terms of allocation, we'll focus on the need during the 15-5 year plan period. We'll optimize our corporate lending structure, strengthen our core responsibilities, and increase support for consumer services. And we'll support the water networks, net generation power grids, computing networks, new generation communication networks, with our comprehensive financial services We will focus on major projects under the 15 five-year plan, including more than 100 key projects. With targeted measures, we will continue to optimize our reserve and credit. Thank you.

Please identify yourself with name and institution. Thank you for the opportunities and from CITIC Securities. I'd like to congratulate ICBC's stellar performance. A question relates to the fee and commission income. We saw the continued growth momentums. There's a continuation in the equities, but there's continuous fluctuations. So what is your outlook for the growth of fee and commission income? We can recognize there is a significant amount of unrealized gains from the sale of AC assets. How should we view it? The questions will be answered by Finance and Accounting Department. Thank you for your questions. In the first quarter, we actively responded to the complex changes in the concerned environment, continuously improved the comprehensive financial service capabilities, and achieved a steady growth in net fee and commission income. and we expect to maintain a top position total income laying a solid foundation throughout the year. In terms of retail and corporate, we actively see the favorable opportunities in the capital markets. We have coordinated efforts across different business lines to improve our research capabilities. We achieved double-digit growth in wealth management and pension services. And also, we have doubled our income from agency precious metals. On the other hand, we have implemented a policy of expanding domestic demand and supporting consumption, improved customer experience, and we have coordinated peak season marketing. and we further develop our ecosystems to increase investment to promote consumption driving a positive year-on-year growth into massive third-party payment income. And from corporate side, we continue to strengthen the foundation of corporate clients, promote the development of new financial infrastructures for settlements and digital empowerment. and continuously optimized asset services such as wealth underwriting and investment guarantees and syndicated loans, leading to slight increase in income from cash management and settlement services and investment banking. Thirdly, we actively seized favorable opportunities in the capital market. We achieved double-digit growth in wealth management and passion services with support of steady growth of fee and commission income from corporate clients. Looking ahead, as positive macro-economic policies kicked in, capital market expectations remained positive. Expanding domestic demand is expected to support the recovery of consumption. SMBC will leverage Our strength in customer base, extensive channels, comprehensive services, and financial technology to respond to risks and challenges and create value through service. We will provide over 140 million corporate clients and over 780 million individual clients with a broad range of financial products and high quality financial services. Overall, we are optimistic about fee and commission income for the entire year and we expect a positive growth trend We will focus on three areas to improve quality and efficiency. First, seize opportunities and enhance wealth management efficiency. Second, is to strengthen customer relationship and improve quality of core products. Third, is to enhance synergy and achieve breakthroughs in comprehensive services, combining financial insight, technology integration, connectivity and funding, explore comprehensive financial solutions centered around the entire life cycle. for the other non-interest income and the high base. Last year, we have diversified growth drivers for non-interest income. Our non-interest income comes from equity investment, bond, and exchange profit and loss. In the first quarter, our non-interest income continues high growth trend. We still face pressure throughout the year. As you mentioned, the geopolitical tensions and capital markets. We will seize the opportunities. and to leverage their strength in order to capture the market opportunities to improve our revenues. Regarding bonds, we strictly follow accounting standards, study the market's volatility opportunities and optimize trading strategies and investment structure. In terms of equity, we'll seize structural investment opportunities and tap into the potentials of emerging business such as asset management and wealth management. regarding exchange gains and losses for closing the monetary exchange rate trends and conduct in-depth market and monetary analysis to achieve sustainable development.

The third question, please.