The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC) said Thursday business profits rose a year-on-year 10.8 percent to 64.4 billion yuan (US$8 billion) in the first three quarters in 2005.

A spokesman for the bank, China's biggest assets-wise, said ICBC is pressing ahead with joint-stock reform, streamlining operation and strengthening market presence.

The bank transformed into a joint-stock company at the end of last month, coming a step closer to its planned market listing, with registered capital of 248 billion yuan (US$30.6 billion).

China is overhauling its Big Four state banks, including ICBC, before it fully opens its banking industry to foreign competition under commitments made as a part of its entry into the World Trade Organization by late 2006.

The ICBC's capital adequacy ratio, a measure of its available capital in proportion to its outstanding loans, rose to 10.26 percent at the end of October, already above the 8 percent required by the international standard.

Its non-performing asset ratio fell to 2.66 percent, nearing the 1-2 percent recorded by most sophisticated foreign banks, the bank reported.

(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2005)