BEIJING -- China's banking watchdog said Wednesday Chinese domestic commercial banks' balance of non-performing loans (NPL) decreased 14 percent through 2010 to stand at 429.3 billion yuan ($65.17 billion) at year-end.

At the end of 2010, the banks' NPL ratio had edged down 0.44 percentage points over the year to 1.14 percent, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said.

Related readings:  Chinese banks lent 1.2t yuan in Jan: Report  China banks ratchet up lending rates to ration credit  Commercial banks urged to trade bonds

Joint-stock commercial banks reported 4.86 billion yuan of NPL at the end of 2010, down 21 percent year-on-year, and a NPL ratio of 0.53 percent, down 0.32 percentage points.

The CBRC also said the liquidity ratio of commercial banks fell one percentage point year-on-year to 42.2 percent.

Domestic commercial banks are large-scale commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks, city commercial banks, rural commercial banks and foreign banks.