China Construction Bank Q1 net profit rises 2.8% YOY

China Construction Bank Corp., the world's second-largest lender by assets, reported a 2.8% year-over-year increase in net profit for the quarter ended March 31, as an increase in income from lending and fee-based services helped offset a further decline in its net interest margin.

The bank said net profit attributable to equity holders for the first quarter increased to 83.12 billion yuan from 80.86 billion yuan in the year-ago period. EPS inched up to 33 fen from 32 fen.

Net interest income climbed 4.3% to 147.15 billion yuan from 141.13 billion yuan, and net fee and commission income rose 8.8% to 41.08 billion yuan from 37.75 billion yuan. The bank's gross loans and advances to customers rose 5.3% to 17.671 trillion yuan from 2020-end, while deposits also grew 7.4% to 22.130 trillion yuan during the same period.

Operating income increased 4.8% year over year to 195.35 billion yuan from 186.41 billion yuan.

The net interest margin for the period clocked in at 2.13%, down 0.13 percentage point from a year ago, as competition in lending and deposits continued to squeeze the margin.

Impairment losses on credit totaled 52.28 billion yuan, compared with 49.12 billion yuan in the prior-year period. The company's nonperforming loan ratio was at 1.56%, unchanged from 2020-end level.

As of March 31, the group's total capital adequacy ratio came to 16.71%, down from 17.06% as of Dec. 31, 2020. Its common equity Tier 1 ratio was 13.43%, down from 13.62% as of 2020-end, while its Tier 1 ratio fell to 14.01% from 14.22%.

As of April 27, US$1 was equivalent to 6.48 Chinese yuan.