(Adds latest figures for loans, deposits, nonperforming loan ratio, and capital adequacy ratio; holdings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities.)
HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Bank of China Ltd. (3988.HK), the smallest of China's Big Four state-run banks by assets, reported Thursday a better-than-expected 43% jump in first-half net profit from a year earlier on strong growth in interest and non-interest income.
But bank President Li Lihui said in a statement he expects economic uncertainties and financial risks to increase in the second half, putting considerable pressure on the bank's operations.
Li didn't elaborate on the risks, but analysts have said continued volatility in global equities and a slowdown in corporate earnings growth may worsen Chinese banks' asset quality and hurt their earnings.
Bank of China's net profit for the six months ended June 30 rose to CNY42.18 billion (US$6.17 billion) or CNY0.17 a share, from CNY29.54 billion or CNY0.12 a share a year earlier.
The result was above the average CNY41.36 billion forecast of four analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.
The bank said its first-half net interest income rose 15% to CNY81.52 billion from CNY71.03 billion a year earlier, as its net interest margin widened to 2.72% from 2.66% a year earlier.
Its non-interest income nearly doubled to CNY37.34 billion from CNY18.76 billion over the same period, it said.
Based on its first-quarter net profit of CNY21.70 billion and first-half results, the bank's second-quarter net profit was CNY20.48 billion. That's a 15% increase from the CNY17.82 billion net profit in the year-earlier period.
Its outstanding loans totaled CNY3.24 trillion at the end of June, up 13.8% from CNY2.85 trillion at the end of 2007, while deposits rose 10.5% to CNY4.86 trillion from CNY4.40 trillion over the same period.
As of June 30, the bank's nonperforming loan ratio fell to 2.58% from 3.12% at the end of 2007, while its capital adequacy ratio rose to 13.78% from 13.34%.
Bank of China, whose exposure to subprime investments is the largest among Asia's financial institutions, said it took a US$1.9 billion charge at the end of June for its subprime exposure.
The bank said the nominal value of its U.S. subprime mortgage-backed securities holdings was US$5.55 billion at the end of June, down from US$5.926 billion at the end of March.
In the statement, the lender also disclosed it sold US$4.612 billion worth of debt either issued or backed by U.S. mortgage lenders Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) in July and August.
As of Monday, the lender held US$7.5 billion worth of bonds issued by the two subprime-hit housing giants, down from US$10.637 billion at the end of June. It also had US$5.174 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the two companies, down from US$6.649 billion over the same period.
As of Dec. 31, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC held 8.25% of Bank of China, while Singapore state investment agency Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. had a stake of 4.13%, and UBS AG held 1.33%.
-By Amy Or and Rose Yu, Dow Jones Newswires
[ 本帖最后由 chrislau2001 于 2008-8-29 08:00 编辑 ] |
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