Huaxia Bank said its net income climbed 21.36 percent year on year in the first quarter, boosted by loans growth and interest rates revenues.

The bank's net income soared to 455.4 million yuan (59 million U.S dollars), and earnings per share grew 22.22 percent to 0.11 yuan, according to its first quarter business report released on Monday.

The report is yet to be audited.

Huaxia's net interest rates revenues surged 35 percent to 2.3 billion yuan in the first three months, compared with 1.7 billion yuan a year ago, said the report.

China's booming economic growth has been fuelling bank loans growth that contributes significantly to the domestic banks' profit gains.

The nation's economy expanded by 11.1 percent between January and March when the outstanding loans added 1.4 trillion yuan to 23.96 trillion yuan, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The bank's first quarter turnover reached 3.2 billion yuan, up 39 percent from the 2.3 billion yuan for the same period last year, according to the report. Its total assets slumped 4.73 percent year on year to 424.1 billion yuan at the end of March.

Huaxia Bank net a profit of 14.57 billion yuan in 2006.

Its capital adequacy ratio and non-performing loan rate stood at 8.82 percent and 2.73 percent respectively at the end of last year, better than the average level of Chinese banks.

Editor: Donald