CCB beats estimates with 10% profit rise

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI - China Construction Bank Corp (CCB), the country's second-biggest listed lender, beat estimates with a 10.4 percent rise in first-quarter net profit thanks to higher interest and fee income.

CCB is the third of China's four biggest lenders to report better than expected results this year. Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China previously defied market expectations of sharply declining profit growth for China's banks in the face of the country's interest rate reforms.

An 11 percent rise to income from interest and fees helped CCB to lift net profit to 65.8 billion yuan ($10.5 billion) from 59.6 billion in the first quarter of 2013, the bank's unaudited financial statement showed.

That compares with an average estimate of 64.5 billion yuan in a Reuters poll of 11 analysts.

CCB's non-performing loan ratio rose slightly to 1.02 percent at the end of March, from 0.99 percent three months earlier.

Net interest income was 103.2 billion yuan in the first quarter, up nearly 12 percent year on year, while gains in net fees and commission hit 32.12 billion yuan, a rise of more than 11 percent from last year.

ICBC reports 'stable' profits of 263b yuan	Agricultural Bank's profit up 14.5%