Bank of China (BOC), the nation's second largest bank, on Thursday said its net profit jumped 51.7 percent year-on-year to 29.5 billion yuan (US$ 3.88 billion) in the first six months of 2007.

The surge in profit is largely due to the rapid growth in net interest income and net fee income, according to the bank's interim report.

Net interest income of the BOC grew 29.6 percent to 71 billion yuan while non-interest income increased 20 percent to 17.6 billion yuan.

Agency commission income increased by 1.43 times, leading to an surge of 72 percent in net fee income.

By the end of June, the total assets of the BOC amounted to 5.83 trillion yuan, up 9.5 percent from the end of last year. The bank's capital adequacy ratio, the ratio of its own capital to its outstanding loans, was 13.4 percent.

Earnings per share stood at 0.12 yuan.

The BOC was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June 2006 and shortly on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in July last year, making it China's first commercial bank listed in both overseas and domestic capital markets.

The bank's shares rose 0.16 percent to close at 6.1 yuan on Thursday at the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24 2007)