China Construction Bank (CCB), the country's third-largest lender, said its net profits increased in the third quarter.

According to a release posted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's website on Friday night, CCB's net profits grew 11.95 percent to 25.6 billion yuan (US$3.74 billion) from July-September.

Net interest income rose 14 percent to 57.1 billion yuan in the third quarter. Net earnings were 0.11 yuan per share, based on domestic accounting standards. That's up 10 percent from the same period last year, the release said.

From January to September, the lender's net interest income totaled 168.2 billion yuan, up 20.73 percent year on year. The amount of bad loans, in the same period, was 6.63 billion yuan less than the end of last year. CCB's total amount of bad loans currently is 78.54 billion yuan.

At the end of September, the lender held subprime mortgage securities valued at US$244 million, according to the release. It also had US$191 million in bonds issued by Lehman Brothers and US$1.51 billion in bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The government's latest tax initiatives, which exempt first time property buyers from paying the stamp tax, helped buoy the country's cooling real estate sector.

China also lowered the down payment from 30 to 20 percent for first time home buyers which strengthened the property market.

Analysts said these adjustments boosted CCB's profitability as it is the nation's leading mortgage lender.

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2008)