CCB: Growing well but dark clouds ahead

China Construction Bank (CCB) exhibits contradictions typical of Chinese banking today. Profits look good, but there are big challenges ahead.

In November 2018, CCB reported a 7.68% year-on-year climb in third-quarter profit, continuing a trend that has been steady all year. The more detailed interim results, announced in August, showed every arrow pointing in the right direction: net profit up 6.1% to Rmb147.5 billion ($21.4 billion) for the half year; earnings per share up 7.3%;