SHANGHAI -- Profits at the Bank of Communications, one of China's largest commercial lenders, rose 9.43 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2013 to 48.706 billion yuan ($7.9 billion).

The Shanghai- and Hong Kong-listed bank said in its third quarter report on Wednesday that the impaired loans ratio climbed 0.09 points to 1.01 percent as China's economic growth slows down. The capital adequacy ratio stood at 13.25 percent.

The non-performing loans mainly existed in wholesale and trade industries in the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang as well as in Shanghai municipality, according to Yang Dongping, chief risk officer at the bank.

By the end of September, the bank's total assets value had reached 5.768 trillion yuan, up 9.38 percent from the beginning of the year. Its loans and advances to customers amounted to 3.22 trillion yuan, up 9.18 percent during the same period.