China’s biggest banks say they have escaped unscathed from the financial crisis in the US and Europe, following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse.
China’s top lenders — Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China — have all reported there was no direct damage to their books from last month’s emergency rescue of Credit Suisse by UBS and failures in the US banking sector.
“Even from an indirect or spillover effect perspective, the impact [to China’s banking sector] is very limited,” said Ji Zhihong, vice-president of the country’s second-largest bank CCB at a briefing last week, when all the main banks reported strong earnings.