Bank of China accelerates international push as domestic revenues tumble

Bank of China said on Tuesday its latest net profit attributable to shareholders for the first half of this year increased by 2.52 per cent to 93 billion yuan. The result missed initial analyst expectations of 94.1 billion yuan, according to Reuters data.

The bank’s net interest income declined by 5.22 per cent year on year to 154.9 billion yuan. Fees and commissions income at the bank, meanwhile, also declined by 4.43 per cent, reaching 47.8 billion yuan in the latest period.

In the first half the profit contribution of BOC’s overseas business soared 43.2 per cent, up from 22.9 per cent a year ago.

Chen Siqing, BOC president, said the bank will accelerate its work towards internationalisation of the bank’s business, aiming to generate a 30 per cent profit contribution from the overseas business in the long-term.

“There isn’t a bank in China that truly represents and speaks for China’s economic heft and trade weight in the world now. BOC now operates in 46 countries along the Belt and road countries. If the work goes well, we can be soon covering 50 countries,” Chen said.

“BOC’s internationalisation is about facilitating the state’s three strategies - One Belt One Road, yuan internationalisation and the corporate internationalisation strategy. We aim to go far and accelerate as we go along.

“Internationalisation is our advantage. Of course other Chinese banks are also internationalising. But our network is still unique. Long-term, we have 3 and 5 year targets for raising our overseas asset percentage – profit contribution is not far away. Boosting overseas profit contribution is out next step.”