China Construction Bank (CCB), the country's second largest commercial bank, has posted a net profit of 57 billion yuan in the first nine months of this year.

The net profit for the third quarter alone was 22.8 billion yuan, said the bank in a statement. It did not give comparative figures.

The bank said its net interest revenue and net fee income from intermediary business, including distribution of mutual funds and insurance policies, expanded to 139.3 billion yuan and 22.9 billion yuan respectively in the Jan.-Sept. period.

By Sept. 30, the bank's bad loan ratio stood at 2.83 percent and its total assets rose by 17.6 percent to 6.4 trillion yuan from a year ago, said the bank.

The rival Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest lender, has reported a 66 percent year-on-year increase in its net profit in the first nine months of this year. While the smaller China Merchants Bank Co. more than doubled third-quarter profit to 3.9 billion yuan.

The CCB, which is 8.5 percent owned by Bank of America, sold nine billion shares in the Shanghai Stock Exchange last month, raising 58.05 billion yuan in China's third largest IPO this year.

(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2007)