(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-01 17:22

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest commercial bank, said 2007 net profit rose over 60 percent, with loan growth coming in at under 10.8 percent.

The bank said in a statement from its 2008 work conference that revenue from intermediary business grew by over 100 percent. It gave no absolute figures.

"We made a great breakthrough in 2007", the bank's chairman Jiang Jianqing said, noting that it moved away from over-reliance on net interest income.

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Revenue from investment banking rose 57 percent to over 4 billion yuan ($555.6 million), while revenue from wealth management products rose 150 percent to 1.1 trillion yuan.

Outstanding credit cards grew by a net 13 million in 2007, with total annual spending charges of over 616.2 billion yuan, it said.

Assets under custody rose to 1.316 trillion yuan at the end of 2007, from 1.0868 billion at end-August.

Electronic banking transactions amounted to 100 trillion yuan in 2007, with the proportion of business volume conducted off-counter increasing to 37.2 percent.

ICBC is scheduled to release audited 2007 results on March 25.

Under a regime of tighter monetary policy, the bank said it plans to cap loan growth in 2008 at around 10 percent.

In addition, the bank will ensure "balanced" loan issues in 2008. It did not explain what it means by balance in its portfolio.

Earlier, the official China Securities Journal reported that the central bank has set a 2008 new-lending target at the 2007 level of 3.63 trillion yuan, equivalent to growth of 13.87 percent. It is enforcing a new method of controlling bank loans in 2008, with lenders subject to quarterly loan targets.

ICBC said it will further explore the personal finance market and develop intermediary businesses, considered key tasks in 2008, from which new revenue streams will emerge.

The bank will also install 8,000 ATMs this year, and plans to raise the amount of business done off-counter by 5 percentage points to 42 percent.