CHINA Everbright Bank Co Ltd said yesterday that its 2012 net profit surged 30.61 percent to 23.62 billion yuan (US$3.77 billion) due to improved net interest margin and higher intermediary income.

The revenue of the mid-sized lender jumped 30 percent year on year to 59.92 billion yuan, the bank said in a report filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

Net interest margin was 2.34 percent last year, compared with 2.3 percent in 2011.

The bank's non-performing loans rose by 1.89 billion yuan to 7.61 billion yuan last year, with a NPL ratio of 0.74 percent, up slightly from 0.73 percent in 2011.

Despite higher NPLs, the bank cut its reserve ratio for potential losses in bad loans to 339.63 percent, down 27.37 percentage points from the previous year.

The capital adequacy ratio, which measures the capital strength of a bank to its risks, was 10.99 percent at the end of last year, up 0.42 percentage points annually.

The bank's core CAR was 8 percent at the end of last year, up 0.11 percentage points compared with 2011.