Profits at China’s biggest banks shrank in 2015, as the sector weathered a year of central bank rate cuts and saw an end to easy profits after the government lifted the cap on interest rates on deposits.

2015年，中国各大银行的盈利有所萎缩。在这一年里，中国银行业经历了央行的几轮降息，并在中国政府取消存款利率上限之后发现，轻松赚钱的时代结束了。

Yesterday, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China — two of the Big Four state-owned banks — both reported that full-year net profits had risen by less than 2 per cent in 2015.

昨日，中国四大国有银行中的两家——中国工商银行(ICBC)和中国银行(BoC)——均报告称，2015年全年净利润增长低于2%。

China’s commercial banks are the control centre of the financial system and supply almost 70% of the financing that feeds the real economy.

中国的商业银行是金融体系的控制中心，为实体经济提供的融资占总量的近70%。

As economic growth has slowed, policymakers have become increasingly concerned about the pace of lending. Banking assets increased by more than Rmb72tn ($11tn) last year, according to figures from the banking regulator.

随着经济增长放缓，中国政策制定者对银行放贷速度越来越担心。中国银行业监管机构的数据显示，去年中国银行业资产规模增加了逾72万亿元人民币（合11万亿美元）。

Now analysts believe the opportunities for profitable growth are nearly exhausted, according to Chen Long of Gavekal Dragonomics, a research group.

研究集团龙洲经讯(Gavekal Dragonomics)的陈龙表示，如今分析师们认为，中国银行业的盈利性增长机会差不多用完了。

“The headwinds that Chinese banks face will last for a long time,” he said. “In addition to lower sources for profit, they will also have to prepare themselves for losses on bad loans.”

“中国银行业面临的逆风将延续很长时间，”他说。“除了盈利来源减少，它们还将不得不为坏账带来的亏损做好准备。”

Total net profit for China’s commercial banks grew by 2.4 per cent last year, according to data from China’s bank regulator. Smaller banks saw increases in profit growth, while bigger banks slowed down.

中国银行业监管机构的数据显示，去年中国商业银行的净利润总量增长了2.4%。中小银行的利润增长继续加速，而大型银行的利润增长则放慢了。

ICBC said net profits increased 0.5 per cent for the year to December 31 2015 — the smallest increase since it listed. Returns on average total assets declined 0.1 percentage points to 1.30 per cent.

中国工商银行表示，在截至2015年12月31日的一年里，其净利润增长了0.5%，为上市以来的最小增幅。平均总资产回报率下降0.1个百分点，至1.3%。

Bank of China followed the trend, with profits up only 1.3 per cent and ROAA declining by 0.1 percentage points.

中国银行遵循了相同趋势，利润增幅仅为1.3%，年化平均资产回报率(ROAA)降低了0.1个百分点。

Net interest margins — the difference between interest paid on deposits and interest gained from loans — suffered as China lifted its remaining controls on the interest rates paid on deposits. The average margin declined by about 46 basis points to 2.54 per cent in 2015.

净利差——即贷款和存款的利率之差——在降低，因为中国撤销了对存款利率的剩余管制。2015年，中国银行业平均利差下降约46个基点，至2.54%。

In an interview with Yicai magazine last week, the chairman of China Construction Bank pointed to the rising tide of non-performing loans as the biggest problem confronting China’s banks.

在接受《第一财经》采访时，中国建设银行(CCB)董事长提到，中国各银行面对的最大挑战在于不良贷款不断上升。

NPLs rose from 1.25 per cent of total loans to 1.67 per cent by the end of 2015, amounting to Rmb1.27tn held by commercial banks.

2015年末，中国银行业不良贷款率从1.25%升至1.67%，商业银行所持不良贷款额达到1.27万亿元人民币。

ICBC’s earnings per share were Rmb0.77, down from Rmb0.78 last year, and a pre-tax dividend per share was Rmb0.2333, down from Rmb0.2554.

去年，中国工商银行的每股盈利为0.77元人民币，低于上一年的0.78元人民币，税前每股分红为0.2333元人民币，低于上一年的0.2554元人民币。

Bank of China posted earnings per share of Rmb0.56, down from Rmb0.61, and a pre-tax dividend per share of Rmb0.175, down from Rmb0.19 last year.

中国银行公报告，每股盈利为0.56元人民币，低于上一年的0.61元人民币，税前每股分红为0.175元人民币，低于上一年的0.19元人民币。