China CITIC BankCorp. Ltd. reported a 2.49% year-over-year increase in net profit forthe first quarter.

The bank's first-quarter consolidated net profit attributableto shareholders rose to 11.20 billion yuan, or 23 fen per share, from 10.93 billionyuan, or 23 fen per share, in the same period the prior year.

Net interest income for the quarter rose to 27.56 billion yuanfrom 24.05 billion yuan, while net fee and commission income climbed to 11.04 billionyuan from 8.18 billion yuan.

Operating income totaled 40.62 billion yuan, up from 33.03 billionyuan in the prior-year quarter. Net interest margin was2.13% for the quarter, down from 2.32% in the prior-year period.

The group's nonperforming loan ratio stood at 1.40% as of March31, down 3 basis points from the end of 2015.

As of March 31, the group's capital adequacy ratio was 11.39%,down from 11.87% at Dec. 31, 2015. Its core Tier 1 and Tier 1 capital adequacy ratiosfor the period were 8.91% and 8.94%, respectively, compared to 9.12% and 9.17%,at the end of 2015.

As of April 27, US$1 wasequivalent to 6.50 Chinese yuan.