The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) on Thursday reported a 61.4 percent year-on-year increase in its first-half profit after tax.

For the Jan-June period, ICBC's profit after tax rose to 41.4 billion yuan (US$ 5.45 billion) under international accounting rules.

Higher net interest margin and rising fee and commission income were the main reason for ICBC's strong performance, according to the bank's half-year report.

By the end of June, the bank's capital adequacy ratio, the ratio of its own capital to its outstanding loans, was 13.7 percent, and its non-performing loan ratio was 3.29 percent, down from 3.79 percent at the end of last year.

The bank had 8,301.2 billion yuan in total assets, up 10.6 percent from the end of last year.

Earnings per share stood at 0.12 yuan.

ICBC was simultaneously listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong in October last year, raising US$ 21.9 billion, exceeding the previous record of US$ 18.4 billion by Japan's NTT DoCoMo in 1998.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24 2007)