BEIJING - Chinese commercial lenders brought in more profits in the first quarter of this year, while the quality of their assets remained stable, China's top banking regulator said Wednesday.

Net profits of all Chinese lenders stood at 493.3 billion yuan ($71.4 billion) in Q1, representing growth of 4.61 percent year on year, said China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

However, the pace was slower than the 14.3-percent growth year on year in total assets of Chinese banks which reached 238.5 trillion yuan, showing the profitability of commercial lenders was waning.

Chinese lenders' bad loan ratio remained almost flat at 1.74 percent at the end of March 2017, said CBRC.

The banks' loan loss provisions, funds set aside to cover potential loan losses, reached 2.82 trillion yuan, 156 billion yuan higher than the end of 2016.

The average capital adequacy ratio, the ratio of a bank's capital to its risk-weighted assets, stood at 13.26 percent.