China Merchants Bank (CMB), the country's fifth-largest bank by market value, said its net profit for 2008 grew 38.27 percent to 21.08 billion yuan ($3.78 billion).
But the bank's profit growth slowed in the fourth quarter amid a weakening global economy. CMB's fourth quarter net profit fell to 2.09 billion yuan, down 63.65 percent from its 5.75 billion yuan net profit in the third quarter.
The bank's earnings per share rose to 1.43 yuan, up 37.5 percent from the previous year's 1.04 yuan, according to a preliminary earnings report released Thursday. CMB also postponed the release of its 2008 earnings report to April 24, from a scheduled release date of April 16.
The bank said the figures were unaudited.
