Bank of China Q1 2010 profit up 41%

Loan expansion propelled by robust economic recovery raised bank’s net profit to $3.84bln.

Bank of China, the country's third-biggest lender, posted on Tuesday a 41.2 percent rise in first-quarter profit on healthy new lending boosted by a strong economic recovery.

Net profit for the first three months of the year rose to 26.23 billion yuan ($3.84 billion) from 18.57 billion yuan ($2.72 billion) a year earlier, the lender said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The result was in line with expectations for a 26 billion yuan profit ($3.81 billion), according to the average of three analysts surveyed by Reuters.

Bank of China and domestic rivals including ICBC and China Construction Bank continued to lend aggressively after last year's credit binge, fuelling an 11.9 percent growth in the economy in the first quarter of 2010 and putting pressure on the government to tighten liquidity.

View the full story in Reuters.