Agricultural Bank of China : China's Agricultural Bank posts 4.8% rise in first quarter profit despite coronavirus outbreak

Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (AgBank),, the country's third-largest lender by assets, reported a 4.79% rise in first-quarter net profit on Tuesday despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

AgBank said net profit for the first three months of the year totalled 64.187 billion yuan ($9.07 billion), versus 61.25 billion yuan a year earlier.

AgBank's non-performing loan (NPL) ratio unchanged at 1.4% by March-end from three month earlier. Total bad loans at the bank was 196.693 billion yuan at end-March, compared with 187.21 billion yuan at end-2019.

The bank did not disclose its net interest margin for the quarter.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Cheng Leng in Beijing and Engen Tham in Shanghai, editing by Louise Heavens)