The calm eye of the financial storm seemed to have hovered squarely over the Chinese banking industry last year, which pocketed 583.4 billion yuan in net profits.

Liu Mingkang, who chairs the China Banking Regulatory Commission, revealed the figure at a news conference on Thursday afternoon.

The figure was 30.6% higher than that of 2007. Liu attributed the increase to the watchdog's intensified supervision.

The commission had demanded that domestic banks start monitoring risk in foreign currency markets, required them to strengthen daily communication with the commission, and disclose their financial status to clients in a timely fashion, he said.

He added that the Commission kept in close touch with its counterparts in neighboring and western countries.