Beijing, Feb 19 (IANS): Chinese commercial banks have posted a record high net profit of 2.65 trillion yuan ($420.6 billion) in 2011, according to latest official data.

Net profit in the fourth quarter of 2011 exceeded 1 trillion yuan for the first time, reaching 1.04 trillion yuan, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRS) said.

It was a marked increase from 817.3 billion yuan of net profit in the third quarter, 536.4 billion yuan in the second quarter and 263.5 billion yuan in the first quarter, it said in a statement Saturday.

The lenders saw their non-performing loan ratio decline 0.1 percentage point year-on-year to 1 percent in the fourth quarter, while their capital adequacy ratio stood at 12.7 percent, Xinhua quoted the CBRC statement as saying.

Provision coverage ratio, the ratio of provisioning to gross non-performing assets which indicates the extent of funds a bank has kept aside to cover loan losses, reached 278.1 percent in the fourth quarter, higher than 217.7 percent at the end of 2010.

Chinese banks have been benefiting from strong growth in net interest income, investment returns and fees and commissions despite the global financial crisis.

In 2010, the Chinese banking industry, including commercial banks, policy banks, credit cooperatives and other financial institutions, posted 899.1 billion yuan of profit after tax, up 34.5 percent year-on-year.