Citic Bank posts 60.5pc jump in earnings

China Citic Bank Corp said earnings for last year jumped 60.47 per cent, thanks to robust growth in interest and fee-based incomes. Net profit was 13.35 billion yuan (HK$15.16 billion), compared with 8.32 billion yuan in 2007. Net interest income climbed 37.91 per cent to 36.09 billion yuan while net non-interest income grew 139.83 per cent to 4.28 billion yuan. The bank added 4.23 billion yuan to the provisions for bad debts to 13.57 billion yuan. Its non-performing loan ratio stood at 1.36 per cent, down from 1.48 per cent at the end of 2007.