Bank of China says 2007 net profit up 31.3%

BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Bank of China said on Tuesday its 2007 net profit rose 31.3 percent from the previous year despite the exposure to the U.S. mortgage credit crisis among Asian lenders.

Net profit reached 56.3 billion yuan (7.9 billion U.S. dollars), up from 42.8 billion yuan in 2006, the state-owned lender said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The bank had recorded an impairment allowance of 1.3 billion U.S. dollars for its 4.99 billion U.S. dollars in investment in securities linked to U.S. subprime mortgages by the end of last year, it said.