China banking and insurance sectors’ bad-loan ratio was 1.79% at end-March: regulator

BEIJING, April 15 (Reuters) – China’s top banking and insurance regulator said on Friday non-performing loans of the country’s banking and insurance industry totaled 3.7 trillion yuan ($580.54 billion) in the first quarter and the non-performing loan ratio was 1.79% at end-March.

Wang Zhaodi, spokesperson of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, told a press conference that the country’s banking and insurance industry saw its total assets grow 8.9% in the first quarter from a year earlier, and total liabilities rise 8.8%.

($1 = 6.3734 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Tina Qiao, Ellen Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

((Ellen.Zhang@thomsonreuters.com;))