China Construction Bank (CCB), which became the first of the "big four" state lenders to go public last October, topped the list of "China's top 100 banks" announced by the British finance magazine The Banker on Wednesday.

The Banker based the ratings on factors such as assets, pre-tax profits and capital asset ratio. CCB was followed by the other three big state banks - Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China.

A CCB spokesman said shareholding reform and listing of its shares greatly contributed to corporate governance and business improvement at the bank.

CCB's core capital surged 47.1 percent from the previous year to 287.7 billion yuan in 2005, benefiting from a 72.6 billion yuan replenishment from its initial public offering, rise of operating income and more efficient risk control, the bank's spokesman said.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio, a measure of its own capital in proportion to its outstanding lending, also rose to 13.57 percent, already above the 8 percent international standard.

Source: Xinhua