ICBC expects net interest margin to narrow by 20 basis points this year
BEIJING (Reuters) - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) (1398.HK), the world's biggest lender, expects its net interest margin to narrow by 20 basis points this year, bank president Yi Huiman said on Wednesday.
The bank will also explore debt-to-equity swaps and bad loan securitisation, said bank chairman Jiang Jianqing.
ICBC reported its net interest margin narrowed to 2.47 percent in 2015, following six interest rate cuts over the last 17 months.
The bank also reported its non-performing loan ratio increased to 1.5 percent in 2015, from 1.13 percent a year earlier.
Yi and Jiang were speaking at the bank's earnings press conference in Beijing.
(Reporting by Clark Li and Matthew Miller; Editing by Nick Macfie)
