BEIJING, May 16 -- Chinese banks and insurance companies recorded steady asset expansion in the first quarter of this year, official data showed on Friday.

Local and foreign currency assets of the country's banking institutions totaled 458.3 trillion yuan (about 63.71 trillion U.S. dollars) by the end of March, up 6.7 percent compared to one year earlier, according to data from the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

Insurance institutions saw their total assets rise 5.4 percent to 37.8 trillion yuan from the beginning of the year to the end of March.

During the January-March period, the country's commercial banks made a combined net profit of 656.8 billion yuan. Their non-performing loan ratio stood at 1.51 percent at the end of March, compared with 1.5 percent at the beginning of the year.

On the insurance front, the original premium income of China's insurance firms came to 2.2 trillion yuan in the first quarter, and their compensation and payment expenses amounted to 827.4 billion yuan, according to the administration.