ICBC says H1 profit leapt over 50 pct as fees surge

HONG KONG, July 3 (Reuters) - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398.HK), the country's largest lender, grew first-half net profit by more than 50 percent as income from both lending and fees from services boomed.

The bank (601398.SS), which made that forecast pn Thursday based on Chinese accounting standards, has been expanding aggressively into intermediary services to broaden its revenue beyond plain-vanilla interest on loans.

ICBC said it posted a net profit of 40.84 billion yuan ($5.96 billion) based on Chinese accounting standards, which can sometimes differ greatly from international financial reporting standards.

For a full statement, please click here ($1=6.852 Yuan) (Reporting by Judy Hua and Edwin Chan)