Ping An Bank net profit growth increases

Mid-sized Chinese bank Ping An Bank Co., Ltd. announced on Tuesday that its net profits rose 14.25 percent year on year to 11.7 billion yuan (1.91 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters, a faster pace than the 11.39-percent growth in the first half.

In the third quarter, net profits increased 19.82 percent from a year ago to 4.17 billion yuan, the bank said in a statement filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

In the Jan.-Sept. period, the Shenzhen-based lender reaped a business revenue of 37.35 billion yuan, up 26.46 percent from the same period last year.

Total assets hit 1.86 trillion yuan at the end of September, up 15.5 percent from the beginning of the year, according to the statement.

Total deposit rose 22.65 percent from the beginning of the year, which the bank said was in a leading position in the industry and laid a solid foundation for its overall business development.

The bank's non-performing loan (NPL) ratio stood at 0.96 percent by the end of September, down 0.01 percentage points from the level by the end of June but 0.01 percentage points higher than the beginning of the year.

Ping An Bank said its NPL ratio in east China rose mildly because some medium- and small-sized private companies in the Yangtze River Delta area have had difficulty paying their debts, but asset quality in other regions remained steady.