BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China’s Bank of Communications Co Ltd (BoCom) on Friday reported a 4.5% rise in first-half net profit. China’s sixth-largest commercial bank by assets reported a net profit of 46.04 billion yuan ($6.32 billion), up from 44.05 billion a year earlier, a filing showed.
“Amid the sophisticated and challenging international environment, (the) domestic economy is facing new difficulties and challenges,” BoCom said in the filing.
However, it added: “The fundamentals sustaining China’s sound economic growth in the long run stay unchanged.”
The bank said it will continue to increase financing available to serve the economy, focusing on key areas such as boosting consumption and increasing the nation’s self-reliance in technology.
BoCom posted a net interest margin – a key gauge of profitability – of 1.31% at the end of June, narrowing from 1.33% at the end of March.
BoCom’s non-performing loan ratio was 1.35% at the end of the second quarter, compared with 1.34% at end-March.
($1 = 7.2882 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Ziyi Tang and Engen Tham; Editing by Jason Neely and Edmund Klamann)
