China Construction Bank Corporation on Sunday reported a 47.5 percent year-on-year increase in its first-half net profit.

For the January-June period, the bank's net profit rose to 34.3 billion yuan (US$ 4.5 billion) under international accounting rules, with earnings per share up 50 percent to 0.15 yuan.

By the end of June, the bank's total assets had increased 12.28 percent to 6,117.791 billion yuan (US$ 804.97 billion) compared with the end of last year and its non-performing loan ratio decreased 0.34 percentage points to 2.95 percent.

For the first half of 2007, the bank witnessed an extraordinary growth in its intermediary business with the net fee and commission income reaching 12.660 billion yuan (US$ 1.67 billion) from January to June, up 101.79 percent from a year earlier.

The bank marketed 115 funds in the first six months, a year-on-year growth of 778 percent. It established settlement networks with 10 new corporate clients and set up cooperative platforms with more than 50 insurance companies countrywide.

In the meantime, the bank strengthened its leading position in the cooperation between banks and securities companies through collaborating with nearly 90 percent of the domestic securities companies on independent custodial services for stock trading settlement funds.

As of June 30, the bank's gross loans and advances to customers stood at 3165.567 billion yuan (US$ 416.52 billion), up 10.2 percent compared with the end of 2006. The net interest margin rose 0.41 percentage points year on year to 3.11 percent.

China Construction Bank Corporation was listed in the Hong Kong stock exchange in October 2005. It issued 26.486 billion shares on Hong Kong stock market and raised US$ 9.2 billion.

The bank plans to float no more than nine billion yuan-denominated shares in China this year to supplement its capital, according to a statement the bank released last Friday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 27 2007)