Bank of China Q2 profit up 10 pct on lending surge

BEIJING Aug 27 (Reuters) - Bank of China (3988.HK), the country's biggest foreign exchange lender, posted on Thursday a forecast-beating 10 percent rise in second-quarter profit as tight interest margins failed to offset a lending surge under Beijing's 4 trillion yuan economic stimulus package.

The Beijing-based lender (601988.SS) recorded a 22.55 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) net profit for April-June, compared with 20.5 billion yuan for the year-ago period, based on Reuters' calculations.

For the first six months of the year Bank of China made a profit of 41.12 billion yuan, down 2.5 percent from 42.2 billion in the year-ago period.

Six analysts polled by Reuters were on average expecting a net profit of 38.7 billion yuan for the first half and a profit of 20.13 billion yuan for the second quarter.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Bank of China, in which Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) has a 2.69 percent stake, have soared almost 80 percent this year compared with a 40 percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI. Its domestic A-shares are up about 33 percent over the same period. ($=6.83 yuan) (Reporting by Michael Wei; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)