The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) reported on Tuesday that its business profits totaled 74.6 billion yuan (about nine billion US dollars) in 2004, up 17.4 percent over the previous year.

The ICBC is China's biggest bank by asset size. Its non- performing asset ratio also dropped to 14.32 percent at the end of last year, the bank said in its annual report.

Source: Xinhua