Bank of Communications Q1 net profit up 19.58%

Bank of Communications, China's fifth-largest lender by assets, said Friday that its net profit in the first quarter rose 19.58 percent year on year on widening interest margins and growing revenue from fee-based businesses.

The bank's net profit reached 15.88 billion yuan (about 2.53 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months, according to the bank's quarterly report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Net interest income, or revenue from borrowers minus interest paid to depositors, gained 19.52 percent year on year to 28.3 billion yuan during the period.

Commissions and income from service fees, another major contributor to the bank's profit growth, rose 21.89 percent to reach 6 billion yuan.

As of the end of March, the bank's deposits and loans outstanding came in at 3.41 trillion yuan and 2.7 trillion yuan, up 3.99 percent and 5.58 percent, respectively, from the beginning of the year.

The non-performing loan ratio slipped by 0.05 percentage point from the beginning of the year to 0.81 percent, while the bank's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at 12.42 percent.

The bank's total assets gained 5.89 percent from the year's beginning to reach 4.88 trillion yuan, the statement said.