Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the world's most profitable lender, posted the slowest earnings growth in almost three years as an economic slowdown and rising credit curtailed expansion in loan margins.

Its net income climbed 14 percent to 61.3 billion yuan ($9.7 billion) from 53.8 billion yuan a year earlier, the Beijing-based bank said in a statement. That compares with the 61.7 billion-yuan average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

China Daily - Agencies