China Minsheng Banking Corp. Ltd., China's seventh largest commercial lender, said Tuesday its first half net profit rose 20.23 percent to 8.87 billion yuan (1.3 billion U.S. dollars).

The profit growth was due to a rapid increase in interest revenue and an expansion in the financial services it sold to the real estate sector and the energy, communications, and metallurgical industries, the bank said in a statement posted on the website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Earnings per share were 0.4 yuan, up 2.56 percent year on year.

The bank also reported a rapid increase in lending to private and small business.

By the end of June, outstanding lending to private enterprises totaled 352.05 billion yuan, up 24 percent from the beginning of the year.

Outstanding loans to mid- and small-sized business rose 73.19 percent to 59.20 billion yuan from the start of 2010.

The bank's non-performing assets ratio stood at 0.79 percent, down 0.05 percentage points from the end of last year.