Chinese commercial bank profits up in 2013

China's commercial lenders posted 1.42 trillion yuan (232.79 billion U.S. dollars) in net profits in 2013, up 14.5 percent from a year earlier, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said on Friday. The lenders' outstanding non-performing loans amounted to 592.1 billion yuan as of the end of last year, increasing 99.3 billion yuan from the amount in 2012, while the non-performing loan ratio gained 0.05 percentage point year on year to 1 percent, according to the CBRC. The total assets of the Chinese banking industry, including commercial banks, policy banks, credit cooperatives and other financial institutions, reached 151.4 trillion yuan at the end of 2013, up 13.3 percent year on year. The Chinese banking industry saw combined domestic liabilities up 13 percent year on year to 141.2 trillion yuan at the end of 2013.