China CITIC Bank said Friday its profit rose 48.19 percent to 17.42 billion yuan (2.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters from one year earlier.

The jump in net profit was due to increased loans, higher profit from non-interest businesses and cost reductions, the bank said in its business report filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Total assets of the mid-sized lender had expanded 9.72 percent to 1.95 trillion yuan by the end of September.

Also, the bank's non-performing loan ratio was 0.81 percent, down 0.14 percentage points from the end of 2009.

Shares of the bank dropped 2.06 percent to 5.71 yuan Friday in Shanghai.