8:00AM New York - Bank of China reported net profit attributable to shareholders in the quarter ended March 31st rose by 18.15% to Rmb22.7 billion from Rmb11.7 billion in the same period a year ago.

Quarterly Earnings Review

Bank of China reported net interest income in the three months ended March 31st rose 18.74% to Rmb40 billion from Rmb34.3 billion in the year ago quarter.

For the quarter, net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 18.15% to Rmb22.7 billion from Rmb11.7 billion in the same period a year ago on robust growth in net interest income and net fee income, including lowered tax rate.

Earnings per share in the period gained 80% to Rmb0.09 per share from Rmb0.05 per share in the same quarter a year ago.

The annualized return on asset jumped 1.50% from 1.10% last year and the return on equity increased to 20.17% from 14% last year.

Business Review

The Bank’s net interest spread and net interest margin slightly expanded owing to stable growth of interest-earning asset and average asset yield.

In the period, net interest income grew 18.74% year-on-year to Rmb40 billion and the Group’s net fee and commission income grew by 82.93% on the year to Rmb9.454 billion.

Domestic fee and commission income grew markedly by 115.58% year-on-year.

During the period under review, the bank realized strong growth in all its business lines such as corporate banking business, personal banking business and global markets business.

Bank of China American, European/African and Asia-Pacific syndicated loan centers enabled it to successfully consolidate its global resources and fully utilize its competitive advantage of concerted development of its international operations.

At the end of the first quarter Bank of China total assets rose by 5.83% from a year earlier to Rmb6.3 trillion and total liabilities and total equity gained to Rmb5.87 trillion and Rmb439.8 billion, increasing by 5.96% and 4.63% from 2007, respectively.

In addition, gross loans and advances rose by 7.98% to Rmb3 trillion, while total deposits increased 5.80% to Rmb4.65 trillion.

Outlook

The bank maintains that it will remain cautious to the development in the macro environment and monitor the uncertainties of the international financial markets.

President of BOC Li Lihui commented: “In 2008, BOC will actively face the changes in the operating environment, and continue to enhance its operation management ability. We will continue to improve our risk management system and strengthen internal control system. We will focus on steady implementation of IT blueprint and business management reorganization, fully utilize the Group’s synergies advantages and integration on domestic and overseas business.”