ChinaBank boosts income to R5.7 B

China Banking Corporation posted a 17 percent growth in consolidated net income to R5.68 billion from January to September 2017 due to the strong growth in its core and fee-based businesses. Net interest revenues grew 16 percent year-onyear to R14.26 billion, while non-interest income went up 17 percent to R4.90 billion despite the R611.43 million drop in trading gains. Core operating income, excluding trading gains and non-recurring income, grew 19 percent compared to last year, reflecting continued robust growth in recurring income from service charges, fees from investment banking and trust, as well as income from asset sales. “China Bank continues to deliver positive results on the back of strong growth in our core banking businesses,” said William C. Whang who assumed presidency of China Bank effective November 1, 2017. Whang added that, “the better-thanexpected results reflect the fruits of our significant strategic initiatives since we began our expansion phase 10 years ago with the Manila Bank acquisition.” He said the bank’s distribution network has grown almost four times from only 148 branches in 2007 to 569 branches as of September 2017, of which 158 are from China Bank Savings.