China Construction Bank Nine-Month Profit Climbs 48%

By Patricia Kuo

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- China Construction Bank Corp., the nation's second-biggest lender, said profit for the first nine months rose 48 percent.

Net income climbed to 84.6 billion yuan ($12.4 billion), or 0.36 yuan per share, from 57.1 billion yuan, or 0.25 yuan apiece, a year earlier, the Beijing-based bank said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today. The unaudited figures are based on Chinese accounting principles, it said.

The increase in profit is less than the 71 percent jump in net income the bank posted for the first half. The bank's Chief Financial Officer Pang Xiusheng said in August profit and lending growth at the nation's largest mortgage provider will slow in the second half as economic expansion weakens.

China's economy probably grew 9.7 percent in the third quarter this year, the slowest pace in almost four years, according to the media estimate of 12 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Growth has slowed for four consecutive quarters to 10.1 percent in the previous quarter.

China Construction said ``various businesses of the group have continued to maintain their trend of positive development,'' in the first three quarters of the year. A change in income tax rate also helped boost profit, it said.

Tighter lending margins and an increase in non-performing loans may cause Chinese banks to report a 7 percent decline in profit in 2009, according to Citigroup Inc.

To contact the reporter for this story: Patricia Kuo in Hong Kong at pkuo2@bloomberg.net.