Many of China’s banks have taken more aggressive steps to write off or sell bad loans in the first half as slowing economic growth and overcapacity in some industries put pressure on struggling borrowers.

China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, Citic Bank, China Minsheng and Ping An Bank all took more losses on non-performing loans than in previous years. Bank of China, which reported its half-year results yesterday, said it had “expanded the channels” for bad loan disposals, but gave no further details.

These write-offs and the moves by some to dispose of bad loans in the markets help to explain why the overall level of non-performing loans being carried by the industry have remained lower than many investors or analysts expected. In spite of the bad debt write-offs, profits for the sector overall still came in better than expected, providing a lift to some banks’ shares.