China's biggest lender ICBC today became the world's most profitable bank with its first-half net profit of 9.4 billion dollars, which is the highest for any bank in world for this period and exceeds combined latest full-year figures for all the banks in India.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) today said its first-half net profit rose by 57 per cent to a record 64.5 billion yuan.
"According to all the interim results that have been announced so far, ICBC has become the most profitable bank in the world in the first half of 2008," it said in a statement.
With its record performance, ICBC has overtaken British giant HSBC to become the most profitable in the world. HSBC has reported a net profit of $7.72 billion for the first half of this year, down nearly 29 per cent from $10.9 billion in the year ago period.
In comparison to ICBC's $9.4-billion net profit for the first six months of this year, nearly 50 public and private sector banks in India, for those the latest 2007-08 fiscal net profit figures are available, have together clocked annual profit of less than $9 billion.
The total profit after tax of these banks stood at about Rs 37,374 crore in the year ended March 2008. Public sector giant SBI is the most profitable among Indian banks with a full-year net profit of Rs 6,729 crore, followed by private sector major ICICI Bank at Rs 4,158 crore.