BEIJING -- The total assets of China's banking industry rose 17.3 percent to 43.9 trillion yuan (US$5.48 trillion) at the end of 2006, according to the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

The state-owned "Big Four" banks - Bank of China, China Construction Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and the Agricultural Bank of China - make up 51.3 percent of the total assets, according to CBRC.

Twelve joint-stock commercial banks, including the Bank of Communications, account for 16.2 percent, city commercial banks occupy 5.9 percent and the remaining 26.6 percent are covered by other financial institutions.

However, authoritative sources estimated the total assets of China's banking industry could top 60 trillion yuan if those of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, were included. The figure makes up nearly five percent of the global total, compared with only one percent ten years ago.

CBRC figures show that China's banking industry had total liabilities worth 41.71 trillion yuan (US$5.21 trillion) at the end of last year, up 16.5 percent from the previous year.

State-owned commercial banks owed 21.27 trillion yuan of the total debts, up 13.3 percent, and joint-stock commercial banks had 6.87 trillion yuan, a rise of 22.5 percent. The remaining 13.57 trillion yuan was owed by city commercial banks and other kinds of financial institutions.

Chinese banks saw a drop in their non-performing loans last year.

With outstanding non-performing loans at 1.25 trillion yuan, Chinese commercial banks reported a 7.09 percent ratio of non-performing loans last year, a drop of 1.52 percent from the previous year.

However, analysts warned that the ratio of non-performing loans might rebound as risks are increased by a rise in the value of individual housing loans.