Bank of China (BoC) , the country's fourth-largest bank by assets, reported a 0.5% rise in net profit for the first quarter of this year on Friday.

Profit was 57.66 billion yuan in the first three months this year, compared with the restated 57.38 billion yuan in the same period a year earlier, the bank said in a filing. ($1 = 6.3673 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Ziyi Tang and Engen Tham; Editing by Kevin Liffey)