CITIC Bank 2008 net profit rises 61%

China CITIC Bank saw its 2008 net profit rise by 61% year-on-year to US$1.95 billion on the back of higher net interest income, the Wall Street Journal reported. The results just overshot the lender’s growth forecast of 60%. CITIC Bank, China’s seventh-largest bank in terms of assets, said that net interest income rose 38% year-on-year in 2008 to US$5.3 billion while net fee and commission income rose 46% to US$445.3 million in the same time period. Outstanding loans at the end of December stood at US$97.4 billion, up 16% on a yearly basis. CITIC Bank’s non-performing loan ratio at the end of 2008 was 1.36%, down from 1.48% a year earlier; its capital adequacy ratio dropped to 14.32% from 15.27%.