THE Agricultural Bank of China, the weakest of the nation's four biggest state-owned banks, said yesterday that operating profit rose 65 percent in the first half, as an expanding economy boosted loan demand and fee income.
Operating income rose to 42.3 billion yuan (US$5.6 billion) in the first six months, from 25.7 billion yuan a year ago, the Beijing-based lender said in a statement.
Loans, mostly to the country's 800 million farmers, expanded by 253 billion yuan from December to 3.38 trillion yuan as of June 30. The bank's bad loan ratio fell 2.09 percentage points from 23.43 percent at the end of last year.
The improved results may help Agricultural Bank, burdened with US$99 billion in bad loans, as it seeks a government bailout this year to prepare it for an initial public offering, Bloomberg News reported. The bank is awaiting government approval for a cash injection and carve-out of bad loans estimated at more than US$200 billion, twice the amount handed to Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the nation's largest.