(Yicai) April 2 -- Twenty banks that have gone public on the Chinese mainland will distribute dividends for the year 2023 amounting to CNY547.8 billion (USD75.7 billion) to shareholders, accounting for almost half of the dividends to be issued by the 888 companies that have announced their dividend schemes to date.

The 20 banks are sharing around 30 percent of their net profit with stakeholders, according to the plans disclosed as of yesterday. For some banks this is an all-time high. Ping An Bank, for instance, only paid out 12 percent of its profit as dividends in 2021 and 2022.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the most generous of all the mainland listed lenders, with plans to dish out CNY109.2 billion (USD15 billion) to shareholders, followed by China Construction Bank with CNY100 billion, Agricultural Bank of China with CNY80.8 billion (USD11.2 billion) and Bank of China with CNY69.6 billion.

Of the 21 lenders to have disclosed their dividend schemes so far, only Bank of Zhengzhou, whose net profit plunged over 20 percent year on year, is not sharing its profit with shareholders.

Due to a complex and severe economic environment, Bank of Zhengzhou’s profitability was affected last year, said the lender, which has not paid dividends for the last three years. The undistributed profits will be used to improve its capital adequacy, it added.

Tumbling interest rates and putting banks’ earnings under pressure. It is therefore to be expected that lenders will start to reduce dividends, analysts said.

Editor: Kim Taylor