The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's biggest commercial lender, said Thursday that its net profit in the first three quarters rose 27.19 percent year on year to 127.22 billion yuan (18.99 billion U.S. dollars).

The bank's third quarter profit totaled 42.6 billion yuan, up 26.84 percent from a year earlier, according to its third-quarter report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The bank said its net interest margin in the first nine months surged 24.36 percent from a year earlier to 221.66 billion yuan.

By the end of September, the ICBC's non-performing loan ratio was 1.15 percent, down 0.39 percentage point from the same time last year.

ICBC shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange closed up 0.22 percent to 4.46 yuan Thursday, while its share price on the Hong Kong bourse gained 0.65 percent to 6.24 Hong Kong dollars.