The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the nation's largest lender by assets, on Wednesday reported a 28.3 percent increase in after-tax profits in 2010 as the country's fast economic growth boosted credit demand and loan margins.

After-tax profits increased to 166 billion yuan (25.3 billion U.S. dollars), or 0.48 yuan a share, from 128.65 billion yuan, or 0.38 yuan a share, one year earlier, the Beijing-based lender said in a statement filed at the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The bank extended 898.1 billion yuan in new loans in 2010, an increase of 16.9 percent year on year. Its net interest margin, a measure of the profitability of loans, grew to 2.44 percent in 2010 from 2.26 percent one year earlier.

The lender's capital adequacy ratio, which is a measurement of a bank's ability to deal with risk assets, dropped 0.09 percentage points to 12.27 percent last year.

Also, the non-performing loans ratio decreased by 0.46 percentage points to 1.08 percent, the statement said.

Shares of the lender rose 0.22 percent to 4.52 yuan in Shanghai and 1.11 percent to 6.37 HK dollars in Hong Kong.