China’s protracted property downturn is eroding the balance sheets of the nation’s largest state banks as their bad loan ratios are creeping up. Bank of Communications Co. reported Wednesday that its property bad loan ratio jumped to 4.99% at the end of last year from 2.8% a year earlier. While the balance of its overdue mortgages slipped, the special mention loans for the segment — a leading indicator of soured loans — jumped 23% to 9.88 billion yuan ($1.4 billion). Its bigger rival, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. saw its bad loans from residential mortgages rise 9.6% to 27.8 billion yuan, according to a ... (full story)