Bank of China: Outbound ambitions

Bank of China stands a little apart from the country’s other big four lenders. Its numbers tend to run a little out of step with the herd. While its peers drifted, it logged a 23% increase in profit in its second-quarter 2017 results, thanks to better bad loan data and lending margins; then in the third quarter, it did the reverse and slipped in asset quality while the others improved.

The main reason it looks different is its international business mix.