* ICBC, BoCom post healthy H1 profit growth
* Both lenders log slight fall in NPL ratio
* Two banks' net interest margins remain fairly steady
(Adds details, context)
SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) , the world's largest commercial lender by assets, said its net profit rose 9.87% in the first half of 2021 from the same period last year.
Profit for the six months ended June 30 rose to 163.47 billion yuan ($25.23 billion) from 148.79 billion yuan a year earlier, the lender said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday.
That was the biggest increase in first-half profit since 2013 and implies a net profit of 77.74 billion yuan for the second quarter, up from 64.3 billion yuan a year ago, Reuters calculations show.
Also on Friday, China's Bank of Communications Co Ltd (BoCom) , the country's sixth-largest lender by assets, posted a 15.1% increase in first-half net profit.
Both lenders reported a slight fall in non-performing loan (NPL) ratios, with ICBC saying its NPL ratio dipped to 1.54% at the end of June from 1.58% at the end of the first quarter.
BoCom reported a 1.6% NPL ratio at the end of the first half, compared to 1.64% at the end of the previous quarter.
BoCom said its net interest margin - a key indicator of bank profitability - inched up to 1.55% at the end of June, from 1.54% at the end of March, while ICBC saw a slight fall to 2.12% from 2.14% over the same period.
China's economy staged a solid rebound in the first half of the year after early 2020's coronavirus-induced slump, but growth has recently shown some signs of losing steam.
($1 = 6.4791 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Cheng Leng and Engen Tham; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Kim Coghill)
((Zoey.Zhang@thomsonreuters.com;))
