China's top bank ICBC posts 11.4% fall in first-half profit, worst since 2006

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC),, the world's largest commercial lender by assets, said its net profit fell 11.4% in the first half, the biggest drop in the January-June profit since its market debut in 2006.

ICBC's profit for the six months ended June 30 fell to 148.79 billion yuan ($21.67 billion) from 167.93 billion yuan in the same period a year ago, according to the lender's statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Sunday.

This implies a net profit of 64.3 billion yuan for the second quarter, down 25.2% from 85.93 billion yuan a year ago, the biggest slump in its quarterly earnings since 2006, Reuters calculations show.

($1 = 6.8647 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Cheng Leng in Beijing and Engen Tham in Shanghai; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Sam Holmes)