China Construction Bank profit down 4.9%
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AP
2009-08-22
China Construction Bank Ltd, the country's second-biggest commercial lender by assets, says its first half profit fell 4.9 per cent from a year earlier as low interest rates bit into its margins.
Profit for the six months ending June 30 was 55.8 billion yuan ($A9.87 billion), or 0.24 yuan per share, the Beijing-based lender said. That compared with 58.7 billion yuan in the first half of 2008.
Lower lending and deposit rates aimed at spurring economic growth narrowed interest margins for Chinese banks, despite a record surge in new loans in the first half of the year.
China Construction Bank said its net interest income, the difference between revenue from borrowers and interest paid to depositors, fell 7.75 per cent in January-June from a year earlier to 102.5 billion yuan ($A18.05 billion).
The bank did see a jump in its net fee and commission income, to 23.4 billion yuan ($A4.09 billion) in the first half, up nearly 16 per cent from a year earlier.
China's mostly state-owned banking industry is isolated from global financial flows and largely avoided the mortgage-related turmoil that has battered Western lenders.
China Construction Bank is the second-biggest commercial lender behind Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, and a major property lender.
