BEIJING - Bank of China (BOC), the country's third-largest lender by assets, said Thursday it reaped 38.45 billion yuan ($6.11) in after-tax profit in the first quarter of 2012, up 9.82 percent year on year.

The growth slowed from the 18.93-percent annual profit surge seen last year, but the BOC said it saw balanced growth in deposits and loans as well as stable increases in net interest income and non-interest income.

Net interest income, or revenue from borrowers minus interest paid to depositors, rose 13.19 percent year on year to 60.6 billion yuan in the first quarter, according to a BOC statement.

Net income from commissions and service fees gained 13.83 percent year on year to 21.15 billion yuan, the statement said.

The capital adequacy ratio of the bank stood at 12.8 percent at the end of March, slightly down from 12.97 percent at the end of last year.

Non-performing loans outstanding climbed to 63.94 billion yuan at the end of March from 63.31 billion yuan at the end of 2011, with the non-performing loan ratio falling 0.03 percentage point to 0.97 percent.

Earnings per share reached 0.13 yuan in the first quarter.

The BOC said it continued to reduce its position in high-risk European bonds and held 66.37 billion yuan in debt securities issued by European governments and institutions at the end of March.

About 96.63 percent of those securities were issued by the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Switzerland. The bank held no debt securities issued by Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy or Spain -- countries deeply mired in the debt crisis.

The bank's balanced performance in all lines of business in the first quarter provided a solid base for healthy development for the full year, according to the statement.