Agricultural Bank of China net profit up 19%

BEIJING -- The Agricultural Bank of China, the nation's fourth-largest lender by asset value, reported on Tuesday that its net profits jumped 19 percent year on year to 145.1 billion yuan ($23.1 billion) in 2012.

The bank attributed the profit rise to the steady growth of net interest income and commission fees, as well as narrowing losses resulting from asset devaluation, according to its annual report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The bank's net interest income rose 11.3 percent to 341.88 billion yuan, while revenues from fees and commission charges rose 8.9 percent to 74.84 billion yuan.

By the end of 2012, its asset value amounted to 13.2 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.4 percent from a year earlier.

The bank's non-performing loans ratio stood at 1.33 percent, 0.22 percentage points lower than the previous year. The bank's capital adequacy ratio came in at 12.61 percent, up 0.67 percentage points from 2011.