First-half net profit for Shanghai-listed China Merchant Bank was 13.245 billion yuan (1.928 billion U.S. dollars), up 116.42 percent year-on-year, it said in an online statement on Tuesday.

Net interest income accounted for 83.91 percent of the total, down 0.12 percentage points year-on-year, and net non-interest income generated 16.09 percent, up 0.12 percentage points.

The bank said the surge in net profit mainly resulted from the rapid growth of earnings on net interest, as well as sustained and rapid growth of non-interest income.

Reduced credit costs and falling income tax thanks to tax breaks also contributed, it said.

The non-performing loan ratio was 1.25 percent at the end of June, down 0.29 percentage points during the first half, while the capital adequacy ratio was 10.41 percent, up 0.12 percentage points.

The bank said that as of June 30, it held bonds with a face value of 180 million U.S. dollars in U.S. mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and 75 million U.S. dollars of mortgage-backed securities issued by the two.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2008)