It is no surprise that the top ten profit makers are still mostly giants in the banking and petrochemical sectors. According to the reports, 16 listed banks raked in about 685 billion yuan, accounting for over half of listed firms' total earnings.
However, most lenders suffered lower growth rates. The top firm in profits, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) endured its slowest net profit growth rate since 2010, falling by 5.2 percentage points year on year. Four other banks, including the Construction Bank of China, also saw single-digit growth.