SHANGHAI - Bank of China Ltd, the nation's third-largest lender by market value, said first-quarter profit rose 41 percent, aided by rising demand for loans and fee-based services.

Net income climbed to 26.23 billion yuan ($3.8 billion), or 0.10 yuan a share, from 18.57 billion yuan, or 0.07 yuan a year earlier, Beijing-based Bank of China said in a statement on Tuesday.

Profit beat the 25 billion yuan average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.