Agricultural Bank of China may see its net profit in the first half rise by 40 percent to 46 billion yuan, the National Business Daily reported Tuesday, citing people close to the bank.

In the first half of this year, Agricultural Bank's new savings deposit reached almost 440 billion yuan, ranking first among China's big four state-owned banks. The bank's new corporate savings ranked second after Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

Agricultural Bank achieved about 23 billion yuan in commission charges, surging 60 percent from a year earlier, the unnamed source said. Analysts attribute the rapid growth of the bank's intermediary business to its extensive branch network. According to the bank's IPO prospects, it owns 23,000 branches, 320 million individual customers and 2.6 million corporate customers.

Agricultural Bank's county-level business saw strong growth this year. In the first six months, the bank lent more than 210 billion yuan of new loans, up 18 percent from the beginning of the year. The bank's total new loans rose 11.2 percent, one percentage point higher than the average loan growth of Bank of China, China Construction Bank and ICBC.

China's business press carried the story above on Tuesday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.