China Construction Bank 3Q net profit up 18.6 pct

SHANGHAI (AP) — China Construction Bank Ltd., the country's second-biggest commercial lender by assets, said Friday its third quarter profit jumped 18.6 percent from a year earlier on a surge in lending.

Profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 was 30.3 billion yuan ($4.4 billion), or 0.13 yuan per share, the Beijing-based lender said. That compared with a 25.6 billion yuan net profit in the same period of 2008.

The bank extended 879.6 billion yuan ($128.8 billion) in new loans in the third quarter, up 24 percent over a year earlier, the bank said. It said loans for public works, the focus of a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) government stimulus package, jumped 25 percent.

China's mostly state-owned banking industry is isolated from global financial flows and largely avoided the mortgage-related turmoil that has battered Western lenders.

China Construction Bank is the second-biggest commercial lender behind Industrial&Commercial Bank of China, and a major property lender.

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China Construction Bank Ltd.: http://www.ccb.com