China Construction Bank Corporation (stock code: 601939.SH and 00939.HK; “CCB” or the “Bank”) announced its 2012 first quarter operating results on 27 April, which showed that CCB’s key financial indicators, including net profit, return on assets and return on equity, continued to maintain at sound levels. The Bank continued to develop all lines of business prudently.

In accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, as of 31 March 2012, CCB’s total assets broke through the RMB13 trillion marks to RMB13.28 trillion, an increase of 8.11% from the previous year-end. For the first quarter of the year, CCB reported RMB51.609 billion in net profit, up 9.26% from the same period last year. Annualised return on average assets (ROA) and annualised return on weighted average equity (ROE) reached 1.62% and 24.61% respectively. Net assets per share and profit per share were RMB3.48 and RMB0.21 respectively. The capital adequacy ratio was 13.66% and core capital adequacy ratio was 11.02%.

The quarterly report also showed that the asset quality of CCB was kept in a steady manner. The balance of non-performing loans was RMB70.691 billion, representing a decrease of RMB224 million from the year-end last year, while the non-performing loan ratio fell 0.05 percentage points from last year-end to 1.04%. This year, CCB cleared up and rectified local government funding vehicles loans steadily. The Bank also timely mitigated the loan risk and controlled the growth rate of real estate loans, as well as optimizing client structure. The balance of real estate development loans decreased by RMB2.3 billion from the beginning of the year, representing a drop in year-on-year growth of RMB10 billion. Meanwhile, the provision coverage ratio continued to surge to 250.65% at the end of the first quarter, up 9.21 percentage points from the end of 2011, consistent with CCB’s prudent operation manner.

CCB continued its credit provision to support real economic areas, such as major national construction projects, infrastructure construction, small and micro businesses, agriculture, rural areas and farmers (collectively known as the “Three Rurals”), and housing finance.  In the first quarter of 2012, infrastructure loans increased RMB66.9 billion or 3.8%; personal mortgage loans increased by RMB39.8 billion, with the balance of loans and amount of new loans taking the number one position in the market. Loans for small and micro businesses grew by RMB33.073 billion, or 5.23%. At the same time, stable and rapid growth was seen in business areas related to society and people’s livelihood. The balance of agriculture-related loans amounted to RMB1,113.1 billion, up RMB54.7 billion or 5.17%. Loans for indemnificatory housing rose RMB8.8 billion. The Bank provided RMB3.6 billion of personal indemnificatory loans to a total of 19,400 low and middle-income families. The balance of provident fund personal housing loans was up RMB15.4 billion to RMB631.6 billion; and the balance of loans for the “Livelihood for the People” reached RMB212.3 billion, with the number of clients rose 1,430 from the beginning of the year.

In the first quarter of 2012, CCB maintained a coordinated development in deposit businesses under the efficient adjustments in credit structure. As of the end of March, the balance of deposits from customers was RMB10.61 trillion, an increase of RMB624.11 billion or 6.25% compared with the end of last year. The loan-to-deposit ratio maintained at a reasonable level of 64.34%.

CCB adheres to the requirements of comprehensiveness, multi-functionality and intensification to actively develop emerging businesses in order to enhance market competitiveness. In financial market business, the return rate of debt securities investments in RMB increased to 3.63% and the proportion of e-banking accounting transactions reached 66%. The ratio of e-banking to counter transactions further increased to 209%, while the volume of internet banking transactions was RMB22 trillion, up 22% year-on-year. The volume of mobile banking transactions was RMB257.4 billion, representing a growth of 68% year-on-year. CCB’s incremental market share in pension funds trust assets soared to the first place in the industry. The underwriting number and income of debt financing instruments ranked first among the big four banks in China. The underwriting volume of private debt was RMB22 billion, which was the largest in the industry. In the credit card business, 1.89 million new cards were issued during the period, amounting to an aggregate total of 34.14 million of issued cards, while the spending volume saw a 37% year-on-year increase to RMB165.5 billion. The financial assets of private banking customers increased RMB60.4 billion or 14% compared with the beginning of the year. The scale of the investment and custody business reached RMB2.14 trillion, up by RMB84.9 billion compared with the beginning of the year, of which the scale of insurance custody reached nearly RMB300 billion, an increase of RMB27.5 billion from the beginning of the year.

CCB witnessed a good momentum during the first quarter, laying a solid foundation for the whole year’s business development. With prudent operation and accelerating development, said Mr. Wang Hongzhang, CCB Chairman, the Bank will continue to thoroughly implement the principle of providing financial services for the real economy. Meanwhile, the Bank will strengthen its efforts in evolving into a commercial bank best in China and first-class in the world, offering customers quality services and maximizing the shareholders’ value.