ICBC (Asia) maintains strong growth with record high profit

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia)<349>, on Thursday reported 2007 net interest income up 29% at HK$2.388 billion from a year ago, the bank said in yesterday’s press release.

Profit attributable to shareholders was HK$1.609 billion, an increase of 29%, earnings per share increased 27% to HK$1.41 and return on average ordinary equity was 13.6%.

The Board of Directors proposed a final dividend of HK$0.63 each share, with total dividend of HK$0.86 per share, compared with total dividend of HK$0.66 per share.

ICBC (Asia) director Stanley Wong Yuen-fair highly commented that, "we do not rule out the possibility that the credit market may worsen this year".

ICBC (Asia) is 71.2% owned by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd<601398><1398>, China's largest commercial bank in terms of total assets. ICBC (Asia) owns 41 branches, 8 "Elite Club" Wealth Management Centers, five dedicated commercial business centers and one investment service center in Hong Kong with more than 1,350 employees.