Bank of Communications profit rises in 1st half

Bank of Communications, China's fifth-largest bank by assets, said its first-half net income rose slightly from first-half 08, as a surge in loan growth offset drops in interest income. Net income for the six months through June totaled 15.56B yuan ($2.28B), a rise of 0.3% from 15.51B yuan in 08. That was in line with an average 15.58B profit expected by analysts surveyed in a Dow poll. The bank, 18.6%-owned by HSBC Holdings, said new lending for the period grew by 30.2% or by 400.6B yuan. Loans to infrastructure projects were 55% of the loans issued in the period. Customer deposits for the half year grew by 26.8%. Income from lending operations fell 9.8% to 29.79B yuan on narrowed interest rate margins. However, the bank said fee & commission income rose 18% to 5.5 billion yuan.