China Agbank’s Quarterly Profit Jumps as Bad-Loan Costs Drop

Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s third-largest lender by market value, posted a 22 percent increase in second-quarter profit as it set aside less money for bad loans, while lending and fee income rose.

Net income climbed to 45.3 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) from 37 billion yuan a year earlier, based on first-half figures published by the Beijing-based lender yesterday. That exceeded the 42.6 billion-yuan median estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.