China CITIC Bank Corp yesterday said it expects its net profit for 2010 to rise more than 50 percent from a year ago to nearly 21.5 billion yuan (US$3.27 billion) as lending improved.

The seventh-largest Chinese bank by assets, in which Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA has a 15 percent stake, said the profit increase was a result of falling non-performing loan ratio as well as effective ways to cut back on costs, according to a statement submitted to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.