BOC profit rises thanks to overseas expansion

Bank of China Ltd recorded 2.52 percent year-on-year growth in profit attributable to equity holders of 93.04 billion yuan ($13.9 billion; 12.4 billion euros), largely due to the continued development of its overseas business and strategic deployment in key regions.

In the first half of this year, the bank's overseas institutions realized profit before tax of $8.57 billion, up 84 percent from the previous year and representing 43 percent of its total profit before tax, according to its 2016 interim results announcement.

"We'll increase our overseas assets to 30 percent of the total," Chen Siqing, president of BOC, said on Aug 30. "This target will be realized soon.

"Next, we are looking to further increase our overseas assets to 40 percent and eventually half of the total in the long run."

The globalization of BOC has moved forward with the opening-up of China, the internationalization of the renminbi and implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, which promotes connectivity among Asia, Africa and Europe, he says.

In the past three years, the bank's overseas assets grew by more than $80 billion a year on average, with deeper integration in overseas markets. Now, local clients account for 72 percent of its clients overseas.

The bank's cross-border renminbi settlement volume reached 2.04 trillion yuan and its cross-border renminbi clearing volume reached 150 trillion yuan, maintaining first place among its peers in terms of market share.

In addition to pushing forward its globalization strategy, the bank also increased its support to key regions including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao area.

In the first half, the key regions recorded a profit after tax of 74.9 billion yuan, accounting for almost 70 percent of the bank's total profit after tax.

As of June 30, the bank's nonperforming loan balance rose 9.2 percent from the end of last year to 142.94 billion yuan. Its NPL ratio increased 4 basis points to 1.47 percent.

jiangxueqing@chinadaily.com.cn