China banks set to post strong first-half results

China's major banks are expected to post strong first-half results in coming days, with investors viewing them as a proxy for betting on China's growth, although bad debts that threaten to overwhelm the financial system are seen as a key risk. "Most fund managers have found owning China banks difficult in the past 18 months because of continuous regulatory and market headwinds," said Macquarie analyst Victor Wang. "They've had to repeatedly explain to internal colleagues why they should own Chinese banks." With expectations so low, shares of Chinese banks are now trading near record low valuations and analysts including Macquarie and Barclays Capital expect a short run-up in shares after their earnings, beginning with China Construction Bank Corp (CCB) on Sunday. CCB, the world's No 2 lender by market capitalisation and the country's biggest mortgage lender, is expected to report a 30 per cent jump in first-half net profit to 92.3 billion yuan (Dh53 billion), a poll of nine analysts surveyed by Reuters showed. Article continues below The other three of the Big Four are expected to post similar growth in first-half earnings, with Agbank expected to lead the pack with a bigger rise on increased financial services and lending growth in China's counties, analysts said. Busy year Bank of China Co is expected to announce its earnings on August 24, while Agricultural Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd will announce their earnings on August 25. CCB's Hong Kong-listed shares closed down 0.18 per cent at HK$5.53 on Tuesday, an 8.5 per cent potential upside from the median price target of HK$6.01 (Dh2.80) according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Chinese banks as a whole have had a busy year so far, with three interest rate increases, expectations that about 1.7 trillion yuan worth of local government debt may sour, and fears that foreign investors such as Bank of America Corp may soon sell out. These factors have all weighed on their shares, with ICBC and Bank of China lagging the performance of Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index this year. Chief among worries is that the lending boom of 2008 and 2009 during the global financial crisis is likely to catch up with them soon, Also weighing on Chinese banking shares, especially CCB, is talk that cornerstone investors such as Bank of America are in talks with Middle East wealth funds to cash out. The lock-up period for AgBank's cornerstone investors, which include the Qatar Investment Authority, expired in mid-July, meaning they are now free to sell the shares they bought during the lender's initial public offering.