Profits at Bank of Communications up 12 pct

Profits at Bank of Communications (BOC). one of China's largest commercial lenders, rose 12.02 percent year on year in the first six months of 2013 to 34.83 billion yuan (5.53 billion U.S. dollars).

The Shanghai-listed bank said in its semi-annual report on Wednesday that the non-performing loan ratio climbed 0.07 percentage points to 0.99 percent. The capital adequacy ratio stood at 12.68 percent.

The Tier 1 capital ratio, the ratio of a bank's core equity capital to its total risk-weighted assets, also a core measure of a bank's financial strength, was 10.14 percent.

By the end of June, its assets value had amounted to 5.71 trillion yuan, up 8.42 percent from the year-beginning.

Of the total, assets of its overseas branches accounted for 8.5 percent, or 488 billion yuan.

BOC said in the second half of the year, it will handle credit structures and pace of growth, strengthen risk and liquidity management and enhance online services.