BEIJING – The balance of loan loss provisions of China’s commercial banks came in at 6.9 trillion yuan about 970 billion U.S. dollars at the end of the first quarter of this year, data from the country’s financial regulator showed.

The figure increased by 269.8 billion yuan from the end of the previous quarter, further demonstrating the resilience of Chinese lenders against risks, according to the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

The lenders’ provision coverage ratio stood at 204.54 percent at the end of March, down 0.6 percentage points from the end of last year, the data showed. In the first quarter, the cumulative net profits of Chinese commercial banks reached 672.3 billion yuan, up 0.7 percent year on year.  The total domestic and foreign currency assets of financial institutions in China’s banking sector stood at 429.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.1 percent year on year, the data indicated     (Xinhua) …[+]