BEIJING - Chinese banks held 217.3 trillion yuan ($32.1 trillion) in onshore assets by the end of September, according to data released by the China Banking Regulatory Commission Wednesday.

The figure represented an increase of 15.7 percent year on year, the banking sector regulator said.

The combined onshore assets of China's "big five" lenders -- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of Communications -- came in at 79.5 trillion yuan by the end of last month, up 8.1 percent from a year earlier.

By September, the lenders' onshore liabilities rose 15.5 percent to reach 200.4 trillion yuan, data showed.

Due to a cooling economy, China's banks have seen a slower pace of profit growth in recent years.

Earlier official data showed the net profits of commercial lenders reached 899.1 billion yuan during the first half of the year, up 3.17 percent year on year.