China's financial institutions report 8.5% growth in total assets

BEIJING - Total assets of China's financial institutions rose to 476.49 trillion yuan ($66.93 trillion) as of the end of March this year, according to data released by the country's central bank on Thursday.

The figure represented a year-on-year increase of 8.5 percent, said the People's Bank of China.

Of the total, the assets of the banking sector reached 429.58 trillion yuan, up 8.1 percent year-on-year, while the assets of securities institutions rose 2.5 percent year-on-year to 14.05 trillion yuan.

The insurance sector's assets gained 15.8 percent year-on-year to 32.86 trillion yuan, the data showed.

The liabilities of the financial institutions totaled 434.97 trillion yuan, up 8.5 percent year-on-year, according to the data.