Bank of China first-half profit falls 11.5%, steepest first-half fall since market debut

Bank of China Ltd (BoC), the country's fourth-biggest lender by assets, on Sunday posted an 11.5% fall in first-half net profit, the steepest drop for the January-June period since its market debut.

Profit was 100.9 billion yuan ($14.70 billion) in the six months ended June 30, versus 114.05 billion yuan a year earlier, according to the lender's statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Sunday.

The first-half figure implies profit of 48.3 billion yuan for the April-June quarter, down 23.4% from 63.08 billion yuan a year prior, Reuters calculations showed.