According to Caixin (August 12) data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) showed (August 9) that China’s commercial banks reported a 9.4% decline in first-half net profits to 1 trillion yuan ($143 billion), reflecting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The CBIRC didn’t provide a breakdown of the quarterly profit figure, but a Caixin calculation based on previously released figures showed that the second-quarter profit of commercial banks dropped 28.4% from a year ago. The bad-loan ratio increased by 0.03 of a percentage point from the first quarter to 1.94% at the end of the second quarter while provision coverage for risky assets declined 0.8 of a percentage point to 182.4%.