BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Bank of China reported net profit rose 5.09% in the third quarter from a year earlier, a filing showed on Tuesday.
The lender is the first of the country’s “big five” listed state-owned banks to report its third-quarter results as China posts a further slowdown in economic growth.
Net profit rose to 60.069 billion yuan ($8.43 billion) in the three months ended September 30, compared with 57.162 billion yuan in the same period last year, BoC said in the filing.
Its net interest margin – a key gauge of profitability – was 1.26% at end-September, flat from the end of June.
The bank’s non-performing loan ratio also held steady at 1.24%.
China’s economic growth slowed to the weakest pace in a year in the third quarter as fragile domestic demand left it heavily reliant on unexpectedly resilient exports, stoking concerns about deepening structural imbalances.
($1 = 7.1230 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Ziyi Tang and Engen Tham; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Kim Coghill)
