The last of China's "big four" state-owned lenders to go public reported fewer bad loans last year as it prepared for stock market listing.

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) said Wednesday its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio dropped 2.73 percentage points from 2005 to 23.44 percent last year.

It wrote off 4.2 billion yuan (525 million U.S. dollars) of bad loans last year, while all types of credit in Renminbi and foreign currencies increased 308.6 billion yuan during the year.

The bank said its major business was in good condition and capital quality improved markedly in 2006.

It reported 58.1 billion yuan in profits last year, 37 percent up year on year.

Meanwhile, the business structure was also optimized, with revenues from intermediary businesses like settlements, bank card services and personal finance rising 45.21 percent from 2005 to 13.9 billion yuan.

To publicly list like the other three major state-owned commercial banks -- the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and the Bank of China -- the ABC has to reduce its NPL ratio to five percent after the joint-stock reform, in accordance with the requirements of the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

To improve the capital adequacy ratio and write off non-performing loans before listing, the ABC is reckoned to need a multi-billion-yuan capital injection.

The Central Huijin Investment Co., an investment company owned by China's central bank, will pump about 25 to 30 billion U.S. dollars into the ABC in the first half of this year, said sources with the company Wednesday.

Source: Xinhua