ROBUST PROFIT GROWTH SUPPORTED BY CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENT IN PERFORMANCE

Bank of China Limited ( BOC : Hong Kong Stock Exchange stock code: 3988; Shanghai Stock Exchange Stock code: 601988) announced its 2009 annual results on March, 23^rd.

According to International Financial Reporting Standard ( IFRS ), BOC has achieved profit attributable to the equity holders of RMB 81.07 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 25.96%.

In 2009, despite stringent challenges resulted from international financial crisis, BOC had constantly practiced the scientific development approach, firmly followed China s proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy, and comprehensively implemented its new strategic development plans. As a result, BOC achieved significant progress in business development and risk management as well as noticeable improvement in competitiveness and performance.

Quality and rapid development of various businesses drove significant increase in profitability

In 2009, BOC captured the favorable historical opportunity arising from a series of plans announced by the Central Government to fight against financial crisis. BOC strived to broaden its client base, expand its business scale and improve the quality of its development. It successfully addressed the negative impact of global financial crisis on the business operations.

At the end of 2009, its total assets and total liabilities were RMB 8.75 trillion and RMB 8.21 trillion respectively, representing growth of 25.84% and 27.00% compared with the prior year-end. In domestic operations, RMB-denominated customer deposits grew by RMB 1,379.76 billion, representing a growth of 35.

09%, and foreign currency customer deposits grew by USD 7.02 billion, representing a growth of 14.88%.

In 2009, BOC s profitability was significantly improved. It achieved profit after tax of RMB 85.60 billion and profit attributable to the equity holders of RMB 81.07 billion, up by 29.90% and 25.96% respectively. Earnings per share (EPS) increased to RMB 0.32 up by RMB 0.07. The Group s return on average total assets was 1.

09%, an increase of 0.07 percentage point compared with the prior year. Return on average equity was 16.62%, an increase of 2.07 percentage points compared with the prior year. The ratio of non-interest income to operating income was 31.70%, remaining the highest among Chinese commercial banks.

Continuously streamlined business structure as a result of relentless efforts on structure optimization

In 2009, BOC coordinated its scale expansion and structure optimization to ensure healthy development of all businesses.

Asset structure was further improved. At the end of 2009, RMB-denominated assets represented 72.44% of total assets, an increase of 7.2 percentage points compared with the prior year-end. RMB-denominated loans accounted for 39.70% of the total interest-earning assets average balance, an increase of 5 percentage points compared with the prior year. These all helped to improve the operating efficiency of the Group.

Credit structure was further improved. Gross new loans were mainly granted to key industries, projects and major public infrastructure supported by the Central Government. Increased credit support was given to high credit ranking customers. The portion of the loans to customers rated BB & above increased by 2.

71 percentage points, indicating further improvement in industry and client structure. BOC is fully supportive of key construction projects and provided comprehensive financial services to a batch of key infrastructure construction projects. BOC also strengthened its support to small enterprises. In 2009, the number of small enterprise credit customers increased by more than 50% and corresponding loan balance increased by more than RMB 100 billion, representing a growth of approximately 130%.

Credit to industries of over-capacity was controlled, resulting in a smaller proportion in the loan book. To satisfy the demand of consumer finance and encourage domestic consumption to raise people s living standards, the amount of new mortgage loans granted by BOC increased by over RMB 250 billion.

Vehicle loans also increased by RMB 14 billion.

Overseas operations achieved great leap forward while advantage of diversification was further consolidated

In 2009, BOC fully leveraged its advantages to overcome the international financial crisis, captured development opportunity, and accelerated the development of overseas operations. BOC s overseas operations achieved operating income of RMB 50.08 billion, up by 16.85% compared with the prior year, representing a noticeable increase in profit contribution to the Group. Its non-commercial banking business recorded an operating income of RMB 20.80 billion, up by 50.49%, representing a significant rebound of contribution to the Group s operating income.

BOC fully utilized its global network and diversified business platform to support Chinese companies Going Global . Its international settlement business transaction volume accumulated to USD1.43 trillion in 2009, ranked the first in the world. Transaction volume of foreign currency trade finance and foreign currency guarantees conducted by domestic operations reached USD80.

7 billion and USD22.3 billion respectively, representing the largest market share achieved by PRC banks. BOC launched new products including trade financing, export buyer s credit, overseas M&A, financial advisory and overseas cash management, to fully satisfy the financial demand of Going Global companies.

BOC made the first transaction of cross-border RMB settlement and acquired a leading market share among domestic peers. BOC further expanded its overseas network by establishing 10 new outlets last year (other than in Hong Kong). Currently, BOC has 973 branch outlets in Hong Kong, Macau and 29 countries.

BOC group s overseas network has been further optimized.

Proactive risk management led to continuous improvement in credit asset quality

In 2009, BOC further strengthened its proactive risk management in respond to macro-economic changes and rapid business development. BOC improved the integrity, intensiveness, pertinence and effectiveness of its risk management and internal control systems. As a result, credit cost was managed efficiently and quality of asset continued to improve.

The year end balance of impaired loans was RMB76.01 billion, reduced by RMB14.87 billion compared with the prior year-end. The identified impaired loan ratio was 1.55%, representing a decrease of 1.21 percentage points. The NPL coverage ratio was 151.17%, increased by 29.45 percentage points.

Due to remarkable improvements in operating results, risk management and corporate governance, BOC was awarded the 2009 Best Chinese Bank by The Banker of UK. BOC was also granted the 2009 Board of Directors Award by Shanghai Stock Exchange, and entered the top 10 Most Valuable Chinese Brands . In addition, BOC also received many other awards, including the Most Respectable Bank , Best Corporate Image , Best Employer , State-owned Listed Corporate Social Responsibility Award , Best Foreign Exchange Bank , Best On-line Bank , Best Chinese Private Bank , Best International Business Award and Best Trade Financing Award .

Looking into 2010, as the chairman XiaoGang outlined, BOC will stick to its scientific development approach, firmly follow the macro-economic policy, and continuously promote the implementation of strategic development plan, with the guidelines of optimizing structure, scaling up, managing risk and improving overall performance , to elevate BOC s market competitiveness and profitability and achieve quality, rapid, and sustainable development.

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