Bank of China (BACHY, $9.95) posted biggest profit rise in almost 10 years

Bank of China posted  its largest profit increase in almost a decade in 2021,  as lending strengthened in the second year of the pandemic and bad loan accumulation eased. 

Net income rose +12.3% from a year ago to 216.6 billion yuan ($34 billion) in 2021, thereby surpassing a median expectation  of 209.8 billion yuan (as reported in a Bloomberg report). The year registered the fastest profit growth since 2013.

The bank’s non-performing loans ratio fell 0.13 percentage point to 1.33%, according to a filing. Its non-performing loans in the property sector climbed by 4.7 billion yuan to 34.7 billion yuan.

“We remain confident on the long term prospects of the Chinese economy,” said Liu Jin, president of Bank of China, at a press conference. He mentioned that central government’s policy measures to boost the economy led to opportunities for the banking sector and BOC will maintain “reasonable” growth in new loans.