BOC registers 12.28% year-on-year profit growth

Bank of China Ltd provided targeted support to key areas and weak links of the Chinese economy while posting a 12.28 percent year-on-year growth in profit attributable to equity holders of the bank last year.

The large State-owned commercial lender issued a total credit of more than 820 billion yuan ($128.92 billion) to nearly 36,000 technology companies. Its new loans to strategic emerging industries increased by 135 percent to 299.3 billion yuan. Its medium and long-term new loans to the manufacturing sector rose 29 percent to 129.1 billion yuan, and new inclusive loans to micro and small businesses reached a historical high of 305.9 billion yuan.

"Looking ahead to this year, the COVID-19 is still going on. In the meantime, the global economic recovery lacks momentum, and we are seeing increased volatility in the international financial market. Although China is under the triple pressures of shrinking demand, disrupted supply and weakening expectations, the fundamentals of our economy remain unchanged, and they will maintain long-term growth. We are full of confidence in this trend," said Liu Jin, vice-chairman and president at Bank of China, at a news conference announcing the bank's annual results on Tuesday.

During recent State Council executive meetings and a meeting held by the State Council's financial stability and development committee, China launched a series of important measures. Like strong winds in the spring, these measures are making the environment for development warm and boosting market confidence. They will also provide good development opportunities for the domestic banking sector, Liu said.

"Bank of China will firmly implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. We will not only draw support from the policies but also look forward to proactively creating momentum for economic development. We will give full play to our features and advantages to integrate into the overall situation of Chinese economic development, maintain appropriate growth in new loans and serve the recovery of the real economy," he said.

The bank will steadily increase lending to key areas of the real economy, including infrastructure construction, smart manufacturing, green manufacturing, high-end equipment manufacturing, rural revitalization and projects promoting green and low-carbon development.

As of the end of February, its corporate green loans increased 8.6 percent from the beginning of this year, loans to strategic emerging industries rose 11.6 percent, and medium to long-term manufacturing loans went up 6.9 percent, said Wang Zhiheng, executive vice-president at the BOC.

Apart from steadily promoting optimization of its credit structure, the bank also stepped up risk screening efforts to defuse potential risks at an early stage and disposed of nonperforming loans worth nearly 150 billion yuan last year. Its NPL ratio was 1.33 percent at the end of 2021, a decrease of 0.13 percentage point from the prior year-end.

The bank will continue to strengthen the prevention and control of all types of risks, especially in terms of the identification and management of risks in key areas, said Liu Jiandong, chief risk officer at the BOC.