BOC banks on overseas growth

International push counterbalances impact of domestic economic slowdown

Bank of China Ltd will further expand its overseas business by tapping into more profitable fields such as corporate financing and commodity hedging, which are historically dominated by financial institutions in Wall Street.

During the last three years, the bank's overseas assets rose 54 percent, accounting for 27 percent of the group's total assets. Profit before tax of the bank's overseas business increased by 5.05 percentage points, accounting for 23.64 percent of the total. Meanwhile, the nonperforming loan ratio of its overseas branches remained as low as 0.17 percent, according to Chen Siqing, president of BOC.