Bank of China Ltd,the country's fourth-largest lender by market value,said on Wednesday that first-half net profit rose 28 per cent,largely due to loan and fee growth. Bank of China recorded a 66.51 billion yuan ($10.4 billion) profit for January-June,up from 52 billion yuan a year earlier. The result was largely in line with an average estimate of 64.4 billion yuan from nine analysts surveyed by Reuters. Net interest income was 110.2 billion yuan,up 20 per cent from a year earlier. Its net interest margin was 2.11 per cent compared 2.04 per cent a year earlier. Non-performing loans stood at 1.0 per cent,compared with 1.20 per cent a year earlier.
