The Bank of Communications, China's fifth largest lender, announced net profits of 9.02 billion yuan (US$1.15 billion) in the first three quarters of this year.

 

The profits represented a rise of 33.94 percent over the same period last year, and earnings per share were 20 fen (2.5 U.S. cents), 25 percent up, the bank said on Thursday.

 

The rise in profits came after operating earnings climbed 27.75 percent to 46.17 billion yuan (US$5.9 billion) and efforts to strengthen risk management and cut costs.

 

The bank reported a non-performing loan ratio of 2.12 percent at the end of September, down 0.25 of a percentage point from the end of last year.

 

It reported total assets of 1.6 trillion yuan (US$203.7 billion) by September, up 12.63 percent from the end of last year.

 

By Sept. 30, the bank's loans were up 18.13 percent, or 139.9 billion yuan (US$17.8 billion), from the same period last year to 911.2 billion yuan (US$115.8 billion). Its deposits rose 12.66 percent, or 154.6 billion yuan (US$19.6 billion), to 1.376 trillion yuan (US$174.8 billion).

 

The HSBC bank holds a 19.9-percent stake in the Bank of Communications. It was the first Chinese bank to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June last year

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 17, 2006)