(Yicai Global) Sept. 21 -- China's non-performing loans increased by nearly 13 percent over the first half, tallying around CNY1.96 trillion (USD286 billion) amid mixed results across regions.

The CNY250 billion (USD36.5 billion) half-year gain in bad debts left banks across the country with a non-performing asset ratio of 1.86 percent, a 0.12 point gain from the end of last year, according to first-half data from nationwide branches of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Jilin province in the northeast was the worst performing region among those that have disclosed the data, with an NPA of 4.1 percent, up 1.92 points from the end of March. Its NPLs totaled CNY77.7 billion.

The southern province of Guangxi also fared poorly, with NPLs totaling more than CNY93 billion at a 3.7 percent ratio. Shandong, a major economic province in the east, approached a 3 percent NPA ratio with bad debts amassing nearly CNY223 billion.

The top performer was Henan province in central China. It slashed bad loans by more than 60 percent over the first six months, with NPLs totaling less than CNY40 billion at an NPA of 1.68 percent, down more than 0.6 point from the end of last year.

Other provinces slashing bad debts included Guangdong, which cut its NPA ratio by 0.12 point to 1.57 percent over the first six months, and Guizhou, which shed 0.2 point from its NPA ratio.

Big banks fared the best in Jiangsu province, with NPLs tallying less than CNY13 billion at an NPA of 1 percent, but as the banks got smaller the rates got higher.

Joint stock banks in the province had an NPA ratio of 1.05 percent, with bad debt reaching CNY9.6 billion, while urban commercial banks had CNY11.3 billion of bad debt at an NPA ratio of 1.17 percent. The proportion of bad loans shot up at rural commercial banks, which had an NPA ratio of 3.09 percent and an NPL balance of CNY45 billion.

Editor: James Boynton