BEIJING, June 20 -- Total assets of China's financial institutions rose to 476.49 trillion yuan (about 66.93 trillion U.S. dollars) 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.