BEIJING, Aug. 21 -- The profit level of China's commercial banks remains in a reasonable range, an official of the National Financial Regulatory Administration said on Wednesday.

In the first half of this year, the banks' net profits increased by 0.4 percent year on year, still achieving positive net profit growth, administration official Liao Yuanyuan said at a press conference, in response to a media inquiry on the slowed net profits of commercial banks.

She noted that in recent years, the net profit growth rate of China's commercial banks has continued to slow, mainly due to the continuous decline in loan interest rates and the continuous narrowing of net interest margins.

Facing the pressure of slowing profit growth, commercial banks have in recent years been exploring internal potential in various ways to reduce costs and boost efficiency, the official said.

The administration will continue guiding commercial banks to strengthen detailed management to improve their profitability, she noted.

Efforts will be made to optimize the structure of assets and liabilities, and to cultivate new profit growth points, she said.