BEIJING -- The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world's largest bank by market value, said Thursday that its net profit rose 28.3 percent in the first three quarters over the same period of last year.

Net profit reached 164 billion yuan ($25.6 billion) in the January-September period under international accounting standards, the state-owned bank said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Per-share earnings rose to 0.47 yuan in the first nine months, up 23.1 percent from a year ago, it said.

The bank's balance of deposits stood at 12.14 trillion yuan by the end of September, higher than any other bank in the world. The figure represents an increase of nearly 1 trillion yuan from the end of last year.

Meanwhile, its outstanding loans denominated by renminbi, or the yuan, grew by 605.8 billion yuan on the Chinese mainland.

Fee and commission incomes surged 43.5 percent in the first nine months to 78.3 billion yuan, while investment banking revenues jumped 46.9 percent to 17.7 billion yuan, the bank said.

The bank's non-performing loans ratio was 0.91 percent at the end of September, 0.17 percentage point lower than that at the end of last year.

The bank said it made new progress in overseas operations in the third quarter, including a deal to take control of Standard Bank Argentina and opening a branch in Bombay, India.

By the end of last month, the bank's overseas assets reached $122.7 billion, it said.