China Minsheng Bank 2009 Net Profit Soars 53Pct

China Minsheng Bankign Corp., the nation's first privately owned lender, said yesterday its net profit surged 53 percent in 2009.

Net income climbed to 12.1 billion yuan (1.8 billion U.S. dollars), or 0.63 yuan a share, from 7.89 billion yuan a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Its avenue in 2009 was 42 billion yuan, up 20.1 percent.

Despite the robust lending growth, the bank said its nonperforming loan ratio fell 0.36 percentage points to 0.84% at the end of last year.