BEIJING - China Merchants Bank (3968.HK) (600036.SS), the country's biggest non-state lender, posted a more than 50 percent rise in its 2006 net profit, according to a copy of a speech by its chief executive Ma Weihua.

A man walks past China's Merchants Bank in Shanghai April 27 2006. [Reuters]

The bank's non-performing loan ratio dropped to 2.12 percent last year, and its capital-adequacy ratio reached 11.44 percent, according to the copy of the speech seen by Reuters. Ma disclosed the numbers at a session of China's annual parliament meeting on Wednesday, sources told Reuters.

The Hong Kong and Shanghai-listed company has not officially made public its 2006 results, although it said in January earnings could rise 50 percent last year -- indicating earnings would be at least $758 million.

Total assets of the lender, based in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen, jumped nearly 30 percent to almost 1 trillion yuan at the end of last year, the statement quoted Ma as saying.

The number of the company's credit cards has topped 10 million, and the company earned about 100 million yuan from the credit card business in 2006, it said, adding that the bank commanded more than a third of China's credit card market.

China Merchants Bank, which began issuing credit cards in 2002, has said the total number of its credit cards would reach 15 million by the end of this year.

Credit cards have only just started to be used widely in China, mostly in larger cities. Competition for the business has been heating up in China as domestic and foreign banks scramble to expand the business.

China Merchants Bank's Hong Kong-listed shares rose 4.15 percent to HK$15.56 each at midday on Wednesday. Its Shanghai-listed stock rose 1.63 percent to 16.2 yuan apiece by mid-afternoon trade.

Ma was also quoted as saying that Chinese banks' profitability remained well below that of their international peers, such as HSBC (HSBA.L) (0005.HK) and Citigroup (CN.N), most of whose returns on assets (ROA) were above 1 percent and returns on equity (ROE) at more than 20 percent at end-2006.

In contrast, the ROA of seven listed Chinese banks was an average of 0.6 percent last year and the ROE at 16 percent, he noted, but did not disclose figures about his bank.