China's commercial banks register stable credit asset quality

BEIJING -- China's commercial banks have reported stable credit asset quality by the end of the fourth quarter last year, with a bad loan rate of 1.86 percent, flat with the previous quarter, official data showed Monday.

Outstanding non-performing loans of China's commercial banks reached 2.41 trillion yuan ($345 billion) by the end of Q4, up 46.3 billion yuan from the end of the previous quarter, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Meanwhile, outstanding normal loans of the commercial banks stood at 127.2 trillion yuan during the same period.

The provision coverage ratio, a measure of funds set aside to cover bad loans, stood at 186.08 percent, down 1.56 percentage points from the end of Q3.

The data also showed that assets of China's banking financial institutions totaled 290 trillion yuan by the end of Q4 last year, up 8.1 percent year on year.