Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the world's largest bank by total assets, warned on Wednesday about challenges that Chinese banks will face in 2013, as the bank reported its slowest profit growth since its listing in 2006.

 

In an annual results statement released on Wednesday, ICBC said it gained a net profit of 238.7 billion yuan ($38.4 billion) last year, up 14.5 percent from a year earlier.

 

Like ICBC's Chinese counterparts, the bank's profit increase showed a substantial contraction compared with its 25.6 percent increase in 2011.

 

The effect of the central bank's move to widen the range of interest rates last year will loom large on banks in 2013, and the year will see all Chinese lenders face "great" challenges and tests on their asset quality, ICBC President Yang Kaisheng said.

 

"We must be on high alert on the trend and prepare in advance," he told a news conference in Beijing.

 

ICBC surpassed Deutsche Bank to become the world's largest bank with total assets reaching 17.5 trillion yuan at the end of 2012, with profits, core capital, deposits and market value all surpassing its domestic and global counterparts. 

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