The Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB), part-owned by US private equity firm Newbridge Capital, said Thursday that its net profit reached 614 million yuan ($89.95) last year, down 76.8 percent from 2007.

The Shenzhen-listed bank attributed the profit drops to the large-scale provisioning and bad loans write-off efforts.

In the fourth quarter alone, the medium-sized commercial lender allocated 5.6 billion yuan for provisioning and 9.4 billion yuan for bad loans write-off.

The average loan loss reserve adequacy ratio and provisioning coverage ratio for China's publicly listed commercial banks rose to 198.5 percent and 169.6 percent in 2008, respectively, from 2007 levels of 170.2 percent and 114.5 percent, China Banking Regulatory Commission figures showed, suggesting their stronger anti-risk capabilities.

Net interest income of the SDB rose 31 percent to 12.6 billion yuan year-on-year, while fee and commission income surged 59 percent to 1.9 billion yuan last year.

Its shares gained 0.51 percent to 15.79 yuan Thursday.

US private equity firm Newbridge Capital became SDB's largest shareholder after it bought a 17.9 percent stake in 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2009)