Here's what drove China's Big 4 banks to a 6.1% profit gain

Overall income climbed to 221.82b CNY.

All of China's Big Four banks — Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp., Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. — saw profits increase year over year in the third quarter.

According to a release from SNL Financial, the combined net income attributable to parents rose 6.1% to 221.82 billion Chinese yuan for the three months ended Sept. 30 from 209.08 billion yuan in the year-ago quarter.

The growth was driven by a rise in net interest income, which rose by 13.41% on combined basis during the period.

Here’s more from SNL Financial:

The four banks saw their combined noninterest income decline to 89.30 billion yuan from 92.26 billion yuan in the year-ago quarter, according to SNL data.

Three of the four banks also reported year-over-year declines in net fee and commission income.

Further, total asset write-downs were significantly higher at the four banks and grew in a range of 24% to 151%.

Bank of China saw the highest increase in asset write-downs as they more than doubled to 11.30 billion yuan from 4.51 billion yuan a year earlier.