Don't get your hopes up: The worst is not yet over for Chinese banks

This is despite the largest banks' 2016 performance exceeding expectations.

According to a report by CNBC, China's five largest banks turned in better than expected 2016 financial performance last week, but analysts warned that the worst is not over as risks of a property market shock could threaten financial stability in the world's second largest economy.

"Full-year earnings released between Tuesday and Friday last week, showed that lower operating costs helped four out of the five banks to register net profit growth of between 0.4 and 1.9 percent in 2016. Bank of China was the only bank that saw net profit fall by 3.7 percent. However, the recovery in bad loan ratios was uneven across the banks and net interest margins – a measure of lending profitability – compressed further, according to the earnings reports," said CNBC.

Read the full report here.