Postal Savings Bank of China Co Ltd posted 16.48 percent year-on-year growth of net profit attributable to bank shareholders in 2019.

The large State-owned commercial lender announced on Wednesday it realized 60.93 billion yuan ($8.59 billion) of net profit attributable to shareholders of the bank last year.

Its return on weighted average equity increased by 79 basis points year-on-year to 13.1 percent, and the return on average total assets rose 5 basis points to 0.62 percent.

Facing a complex and severe external environment, China continued the supply-side structural reform as the top priority in 2019. Looking forward to 2020, the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic will have a greater impact on the economy and society. However, the impacts of the epidemic are generally manageable. The basic trend of a long-term positive performance of China's economy fundamentals has not changed, according to the bank's results announcement.

Zhang Jinliang, chairman of the PSBC, said in a written message, "In the new year, we will firmly seize the new opportunities of business reform, accelerate digital, agile and scenario-based transformation … We will implement the strategy of development through technology by allocating at least 3 percent of our annual operating income on IT investment every year."

Last year, the bank invested 8.18 billion yuan in information technology, accounting for 2.96 percent of its operating income.

To achieve better asset quality, the PSBC intensified risk control measures in key areas, such as real estate and hidden local government debts, according to its results announcement.

At the end of 2019, the bank's balance of nonperforming loans increased by 5.96 billion yuan from the end of 2018 to 42.84 billion yuan. Its NPL ratio remained flat at 0.86 percent, far below the average 1.86 percent NPL ratio of China's commercial banks.

The growth of nonperforming corporate loans of the bank mainly came from manufacturing, of which the NPL balance increased by 3.93 billion yuan from the prior year-end to 9.69 billion yuan.

The balance of special mention loans, potentially weak loans presenting an unwarranted credit risk, amounted to 32.71 billion yuan, representing an increase of 5.98 billion yuan from the previous year. The special mention loan ratio rose 0.03 percentage point to 0.66 percent over the same period.

The allowance to NPLs ratio was 389.45 percent at the end of last year, up from 346.8 percent a year earlier, indicating enhanced capability of risk management.