(Yicai Global) Oct. 25 -- Ping An Bank, the listed banking unit of Chinese insurance giant Ping An Insurance, reported a 26 percent jump in profit in the first three quarters from a year earlier.

Net profit was CNY36.7 billion (USD5.1 billion) in the nine months ended Sept. 30, the Shenzhen-based lender’s latest financial report showed yesterday. Revenue rose 8.7 percent to CNY138.3 billion (USD18.9 billion).

Ping An Bank attributed the higher profit mainly to the reshaping of its asset-liability operations, as well as the optimization of its debt structure and steps to reduce debt costs. But because of falling interest rates and other factors, the return on assets declined, and the lender’s net interest margin narrowed. Asset quality remained stable though, the bank said.

The earnings report also mentioned Ping An Bank’s efforts to support the real economy. In the first three quarters, the lender granted 998,100 micro and small businesses credit of as much as CNY10 million (USD1.4 million) each, with 90 percent of the loans less than CNY1 million (USD136,910) a time.

New customers, to whom the lender issued loans for private companies, accounted for over 70 percent of all new clients in the first nine months. The loan balance for private firms rose nearly 16 percent from the end of last year, taking up 75 percent of the total corporate loan balance.

Shares of Ping An Bank [SHE: 000001] rose 0.3 percent today to finish at CNY10.65 (USD1.46) each.

Editor: Futura Costaglione