(Yicai Global) Sept. 26 -- High coverage ratios mean China currently has at least 10 banks that must distribute profits, including Postal Savings Bank of China and China Merchants Bank, the 21st Century Business Herald reported today.

Banks with a provision coverage ratio exceeding two times the regulatory requirements should be regarded as tending to conceal profits, the country's Ministry of Finance said on its website, and it is thus requiring these banks to distribute these profits.

The standard for provision coverage ratio mandated by the regulator is one and half times, which means that banks with a provision coverage ratio of more than fourfold must disgorge these profits.

China has 10 banks with a ratio of over four times, statistics show. The highest is Bank of Ningbo, with a provision coverage ratio of 522 percent; followed by Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank with 454 percent. Bank of Nanjing came in third at 416 percent.

Editor: Ben Armour