Banking regulators say non-performing loans at China's commercial banks increased 45.2 billion yuan to 1.44 trillion yuan at the end of the second quarter.

That was the smallest quarterly increase since the end of 2013. The China Banking Regulatory Commission said Wednesday that the NPL ratio for Chinese commercial lenders stood at 1.75 percent at the end of June. That was the same level as at the end of March.

Special mention loans, or credit that could sour quickly, increased 124.3 billion yuan during the second quarter to 3.32 trillion yuan. Net profit earned by commercial banks stood at 899.1 billion yuan for the first half of the year. That was an increase of 3.17 percent from the same period last year.