Bank of China, the country's fourth largest lender by assets, has reported an after-tax profit of 184.1 billion ($26.7 billion) yuan for 2016, up slightly from the previous year.

In a statement released on Friday, bank chairman Tian Guoli said that the bank will continue to maintain its leading status in the process of globalization as the country's most internationalized bank.

Bank president Chen Siqing, said at a press briefing in Beijing on Friday, that the bank will step up its financing for projects in the Belt and Road Initiative through the bank's overseas networks in 51 countries and regions. So far, the bank has extended $60 billion in credit for projects in the initiative.

At the end of 2016, the bank's overseas institutions' assets reached $730.7 billion, representing a quarter of the bank's total assets. Profit of its overseas operation before tax grew 39 percent to $12.2 billion, according to the bank's annual report.

Non-performing loans increased by 15.1 billion yuan last year with a NPL ratio of 1.46 percent, up 0.03 percentage points from the year earlier.