CHINESE banks will see profitability coming under pressure in the next three to five years amid a slowing economy, with smaller banks being hardest hit, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said."Damage to China's top banks' balance sheets is about to surface because of a slowdown in China's economy since late 2011 and precarious global economic conditions," Ryan Tsang, credit analyst at the New York-based S&P said in a credit report.

The profit growth in Chinese commercial banks slowed by 13.1 percentage points to 26.3 percent in the first half of the year from the same period a year earlier, according to the People's Bank of China.

China's economy slowed to a 7.8-percent growth in the first six months and banks may see an easing in their profit expansion in line with the pace of economic growth, a PBOC official said earlier at a banking forum in Shanghai.

S&P said smaller banks without a competitive niche will be hardest hit by the weaker conditions, opening up opportunities for the larger and stronger banks to snap up smaller and weaker lenders to strengthen their market positions."We believe the top banks, particularly national banks and large regional banks, could spearhead massive market-driven consolidation,'' Tsang said. ''The pace of consolidation will hinge on the severity of the sector's credit downturn that's unfurling."  

沪江英语快讯：在国内经济增速放缓的背景下，曾经一路高歌猛进的财政收入也转入低速增长轨道。银行业协会预计，2012年银行业生息资产增速将继续小幅下降至15%左右，全年新增人民币贷款在8万亿元－8.5万亿。我国银行业盈利增长与实体经济发展基本适应，而且带有明显的周期性和阶段性特征。由于2012年全年银行业的资产增速尚较为平稳，因此，盈利增速回落虽然大局已定，但仍会有温和增长。