Net profits of China Everbright Bank (CEB) rose 280 million yuan (41.1 million U.S. dollars) last year to hit 7.6 billion yuan, announced the Beijing-based bank Wednesday.

The growth rate was lower than that in 2008 when the bank's net profit soared 45.2 percent year on year.

A director of the state-holding bank Tang Shuangning said CEB had revenues of 24.1 billion yuan in 2009, about 640 million yuan less than that in 2008.

In 2009, total loans exceeded 600 billion yuan for the first time, as private loans exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time and reached 141.8 billion yuan, he said.

CEB assets last year totalled 1.2 trillion yuan, up 41 percent year on year, as its savings deposits increased by 39 percent to 1.04 trillion yuan, Tang said.

The bad loan ratio, the percentage that non-performing loans account for in total loans, decreased to 1.25 percent in 2009 from 2 percent the previous year, making the bank less susceptible to risks, he said.