Agricultural Bank of China, one of the country's Big Four state lenders, vowed on Wednesday to shore up credit risk controls and address abuses following a revealing audit of its 2004 books.

The bank would deal with loans extended without respecting the rules by calling them in or tightening related procedures, it said in a statement emailed to reporters.

The bank would also clamp down on employees who touched client deposits without permission and step up controls on its bills business. It had already fired 64 people, including three branch heads for misconduct.

The inspection, carried out by China's National Audit Office last year, had put the spotlight on the lender's weaknesses and would help it push ahead with planned reforms, it said. The audit was "beneficial to accelerating reforms and building a modern commercial bank with sound standards of governance".

The official Xinhua news agency on Monday cited the audit office as saying that the bank had been involved in 51 criminal cases to the tune of 8.7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in 2004.

Irregularities involving deposits amounted to some 14.3 billion yuan while those related to loans and bills reached 27.6 billion yuan and 9.7 billion yuan respectively, Xinhua said. The bank would strengthen implementation of the rules and further improve its regulations. Since early 2006, it had established new rules involving risk management and credit.

Industry sources say the Beijing-based bank has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers as its external auditor. Agbank confirmed an international firm was auditing its branches to shore up risk controls.

China has injected a total $60 billion into its three other state commercial banks.

Reports emerged earlier this year that central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan, who leads the country's highest-level working group on state bank reform, favoured a plan to breakup the lender and to put its vast network of branches under the control of local entities.

Agbank president Yang Mingsheng later denied the reports, saying there was no proposal to dismantle the bank.