Chinese banking sector's assets up in first nine months

BEIJING -- The total assets of China's banking sector saw steady expansion in the first three quarters of the year, according to data from the country's top banking and insurance regulator.

By the end of September, local and foreign currency assets of the country's banking institutions had climbed 10.5 percent year-on-year to 315.2 trillion yuan ($47.55 trillion), according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Their non-performing loans ratio stood at 1.96 percent at the end of September, 0.02 percentage points higher than that at the end of June, the data showed.

The data also showed that the total assets of the insurance industry stood at 22.4 trillion yuan at the end of September, up 9.1 percent from the beginning of the year.

The insurance sector's premium income expanded 7.2 percent year-on-year to 3.7 trillion yuan in the first nine months.