File photo of a branch of Huaxia Bank. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - Huaxia Bank, a mid-sized Chinese lender, said on Wednesday that its net profit rose 6.08 percent in the first half of the year (H1), driven by business expansion.

Net profit hit 9.83 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), the lender said in a statement. Business revenue rose just over 10 percent to 31.2 billion yuan.

The bank attributed the results to expansion and a successful strategy of investing big in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development.

The bank's total assets reached 2.25 trillion yuan at the end of June, up 11.4 percent from the start of the year.

In contrast, net profit growth for the country's commercial banks on average slowed to 3.2 percent year on year during H1, official data showed on Wednesday.