China Construction Bank 2009 profit up 15 percent

China Construction Bank Ltd., the country's second-biggest commercial lender by assets, said its profit climbed 15 percent in 2009 on a surge in lending and strong fee and commission income.

Profit for 2009 was 106.8 billion yuan ($15.6 billion) or 0.5 yuan per share (7 cents per share), the Beijing-based lender said Sunday. That compared with a 92.6 billion yuan profit in 2008.

Chinese banks extended over 9.5 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) in loans in 2009 in support of a massive government stimulus program meant to ward off recession. The slew of new loans has raised concern over potential problems with bad debt problems, but so far such trends have not shown in lenders' earnings results.

China Construction Bank, which is a major lender for construction and housing, said its ratio of nonperforming loans to total lending fell to 1.5 percent by the end of last year from 2.2 percent a year earlier.

Like its rivals, the bank has sought to boost its fee and commissions income. In 2009, such income rose 25 percent over the year before, to 48.1 billion yuan ($7 billion) from 38 billion yuan in 2008.