CCB announces 2013 profit gains

China Construction Bank Corp (CCB), one of the the country's Big Four banks, posted a 9.2 percent rise in net profit for the final three months of 2013, becoming the third of China's four biggest banks to beat market forecasts.

Its net profit rose to 38.18 billion yuan ($6.15 billion) from 35 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012. For the full year, net profit rose to 214.66 billion yuan from 193.2 billion yuan in 2012. CCB's non-performing loan ratio rose slightly to 0.99 percent at the end of December 2013 from 0.98 percent three months earlier.

Bank of China Ltd and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd also beat estimates when they released their fourth-quarter earnings last week, with China's banks showing resilience even as the country's economy slows.