Bank of Communication Posts Strong First-Half Profit

»Bank of Communication, China’s fifth-largest lender by assets, said Wednesday its first-half net profit rose 30.08 percent from a year earlier to 20.36 billion yuan.

»Capital adequacy ratio and core capital adequacy ratio stood at 12.17 percent and 8.94 percent, a gain of 0.17 percentage points and 0.79 percentage points respectively.

»The bank, placed 49th in The Banker’s Top 1,000 World Banks ranking, contributed its growth to improved lending profitability and business expansion, which boosted business fee revenue.

»As of June 30, 2010, Bank of Communication registered a total asset of 3.71 trillion yuan, representing an increase of 12.09 percent from the beginning of the year, it said in a statement delivered to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

»The bank moved up the Fortune Global 500 list from 494th in 2009 to 440th in terms of operational revenue this year.