China Merchants Bank said net profit may rise by 35 per cent to 5.25 billion yuan this year as a result of a widening profit margin between loan and deposit rates as well as the bank's expanding off-balance-sheet business, People’s Daily reported. The Shenzhen-based bank is China's sixth-largest lender and the second-biggest publicly traded bank on the mainland. The bank's first-half performance has exceeded the expectations of many analysts, but most believe it will reach its annual performance target, said the paper. "The bank stands to profit more from its credit cards business as the business broke even by the end of last year," said Wu Yonggang, an analyst with Guotai Jun'an Securities. China Merchants Bank is the biggest issuer of credit cards with the total number estimated at around two million.