Beijing Rural Bank’s Q1 net profit up 38%

Beijing Rural Commercial Bank posted a net profit of US$125.42 million (RMB877 million) in the first quarter, up 38.04% year-on-year, the China Securities Journal reported. Non-performing loans (NPLs) were reduced by US$32.32 million (RMB226 million) to US$919.13 million (RMB6.427 billion), dropping its NPL ratio 0.51 percentage points from the end of 2007 to 6.32%. The bank’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 10.58%, up 2.04 percentage points on the beginning of the year. The bank had US$28.93 billion (RMB202.32 billion) in total assets, breaking the RMB200 billion (US$28.60 billion) mark for the first time. Elsewhere in rural banking, HSBC (05.HK; HBC.NY) said earlier this month it expects its rural banking business to turn profitable in three to four years. The Chinese government has made boosting rural incomes and promoting rural loans a top priority.