BEIJING—China Development Bank Corp., a major Chinese bond issuer and creditor to international energy projects, said its net profit surged 53% last year.
Its net profit for 2009 rose to 31.9 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) from 20.8 billion yuan in 2008, based on Chinese accounting standards, according to the bank's annual report, which was published in the central bank-backed Financial News on Tuesday.
Financial information on the state-controlled bank is hard to come by as it isn't listed or held to the disclosure rules governing publicly traded banks. But investors and deal makers pay close attention to the former policy lender's performance given its role in restructuring the domestic economy and supporting state firms expanding abroad.
The bank didn't say much about its outlook for this year in its annual report. It briefly touched on the international financing deals it struck last year, including for energy projects in Russia, Brazil, Venezuela, and Turkmenistan.
It said its outstanding foreign-exchange loans totaled $97.4 billion at the end of last year, without providing any figures for comparison. But in its annual report for the previous year it said its outstanding foreign-exchange loans stood at $64.5 billion at the end of 2008.
China Development Bank Chairman Chen Yuan said in the annual report that the bank completed several international energy and resources projects last year with foreign governments and companies. The projects involved direct financing, joint loans, settlement support and currency swaps. He didn't elaborate.
Mr. Chen said the lender would continue to "service the nation's strategy" this year.
The bank said its outstanding loans rose to 3.708 trillion yuan at the end of last year, up 28% from 2.899 trillion yuan at the end of 2008.
Its new yuan loans totaled 635 billion yuan last year, with 32.6% of that amount going to central government investment projects.
Net interest income fell 11% last year to 74.4 billion yuan from 83.9 billion yuan the previous year, the bank said. For many banks, the surge in credit unleashed by China's stimulus efforts last year didn't generate corresponding increases in net interest income, as lower interest margins offset the benefit of higher volumes.
China Development Bank's total assets rose 4.541 trillion yuan last year, from 3.821 trillion in 2008 yuan.
