HONG KONG, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Bank of China announced here Thursday that its profit surged 65.23 percent year-on-year to 42.83 billion yuan (about 5.51 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006.

The bank said thanks to robust growth in net interest income and net fee income and control on credit cost, its operating income reached 148.3 billion RMB, up 18.6 percent, with earnings per share reaching 0.18 RMB and net interest income grew 20.16 percent to 121.3 billion RMB.

Chairman of Bank of China, Xiao Gang said the bank has achieved remarkable progress in its reform in share holding structure and became the first Chinese bank to be dual listed in both international and domestic markets.

Looking ahead, the bank believes by refining operating mechanisms and growth patterns, it may further improve its risk management and internal control system and thus lead into a leading international bank.

Meanwhile, Bank of China (Hong Kong), a subsidiary of Bank of China, announced its profit of 2006 reached over 14 billion HK dollars (1.79 billion U.S. dollars), up 3 percent comparing with 2005, with earnings per share reached 1.32 HK dollars.