You would have thought when you read this headline that Bank of China (#3988) had lost a lot of money (just like the US banks did). Well, I did anyway.
China's 3rd largest bank actually made RMB42 billion in profits, up 42% year on year. The headline refers to the fact that it lags behind other state owned banks in profit GROWTH! ICBC (#1398) grew 57% and CCB (#939) grew 71%.
As China's foreign exchange bank, BOC has a lot of foreign currency (USD) assets and the rise of the RMB against the USD has led to revaluation losses. But goes around, comes around. When the USD starts to strengthen again, it will mean revaluation profits.
But BOC's biggest handicap vis-a-vis ICBC and CCB is the lack of a large domestic deposit and customer base. When you buy China concept, you want to buy Chinese assets and income streams, not someone who holds a lot of foreign currency assets. may as well buy HSBC.
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