China Merchants Bank (CMB), the country's sixth largest lender, announced on Thursday that its net profit in the first three quarters was forecast to increase more than 80 percent, according to Thursday's China Securities Journal.
The bank attributed the profit increase to the growth of capital scale, non-interest income increase and the enlarging interest margin.
The CMB said that the net profit in the first nine months of last year came to 9.97 billion yuan (US$1.46 billion) and earnings per share stood at 0.68 yuan.
The Shanghai-listed bank gained 1.81 percent to 15.2 yuan per share on the previous trading day.
(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2008)
