Bank of China to add 39 branches overseas

Move prompted by rosy profit from overseas operation, which accounts for 25% of lender's total profit.

Bank of China (BOC) will open 39 new overseas branches in more than 20 countries before the end of 2010, reports 163.com, citing Xiao Gang, the chairman of BOC.

Xiao Gang said that the profit generated from BOC’s overseas assets accounts for 25 percent of the bank’s total profit.

According to the semiannual report, BOC recorded a 26.87 percent year-on-year increase in the first half net profit attributable to shareholders to 52.022 billion yuan.

The net interest margin of BOC is 2.04 percent, lower than the NIM for both the China Construction Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

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