BEIJING -- Chinese commercial banks' bad loan ratio fell slightly by the end of the fourth quarter last year, data from the banking regulator showed.

The non-performing loan ratio of commercial banks stood at 1.73 percent at the end of the fourth quarter 2021, down 0.02 percentage points from the data seen at the end of the previous quarter, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said in a statement.

Outstanding bad loans from commercial banks amounted to 2.8 trillion yuan ($439.7 billion).

The data also showed the total assets of China's banking industry reached 344.8 trillion yuan by the end of last year, up 7.8 percent year-on-year.

The lenders' capital adequacy ratio came in at 15.13 percent. In 2021, the commercial banks made a combined net profit of 2.2 trillion yuan, up 12.6 percent year-on-year, the data showed.