SHANGHAI (AP) - Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., one of the country's four major state-owned lenders, said Wednesday that its profit in the first quarter of the year rose 36.4 percent, helped by higher interest and fee income.
The Beijing-based bank said its profit rose to 34.07 billion yuan ($5.2 billion) in January-March from 25 billion yuan a year earlier.
Interest income rose 32 percent over the same period a year earlier to 70.5 billion yuan ($10.8 billion) while fees and other income surged 63 percent to 17.7 billion yuan ($2.7 billion).
The bank, China's biggest rural lender, raised $22.1 billion in an initial public offering in July in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Like other Chinese banks, it has thrived in the economic rebound that followed the 2008 global financial crisis and surging interest income from higher lending associated with government stimulus policies.
The bank said its total assets rose 6 percent in the first quarter, to 10.96 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion) as of March 31.
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Agricultural Bank of China Ltd: www.abchina.com/en/default.htm