China Construction Bank Reports 15% Net Profit Rise in 2009

BEIJING, Mar. 29 -- China Construction Bank (CCB), one of the four leading lenders in China, announced Sunday that its net profit rose 15.32 percent year-on-year to 106.84 billion yuan ($15.65 billion) in 2009.

The CCB's operating income decreased 0.12 percent in 2009 over 2008 to 267.2 billion yuan, the lender said in its 2009 annual report filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

By the end last year, the bank's core capital adequacy ratio reached 9.31 percent, down 0.86 percentage point year-on-year.

The non-performing loan rate was 1.5 percent by the end of 2009, down 0.71 percentage point from a year earlier, the report said.

The CCB's A-share stock price rose 1.27 percent to 5.58 yuan per share on Friday.

The total assets of the Beijing-based lender rose 27.37 percent by the end of 2009 to 9.62 trillion yuan from a year earlier, according to the report.

The bank would strengthen its financing support for China's economic restructuring efforts, smaller firms and the agricultural sector this year, said Guo Shuqing, chairman of the CCB.

The lender said 1.54 trillion yuan new loans went to infrastructure projects in 2009, accounting for 53.12 percent of its new combined corporate loans last year.