China Construction Bank (CCB) will see further increases in its ratio of bad debts this year or next, Wang Hongzhang, the bank's chairman, said at a news conference in Hong Kong on Monday, without elaborating.

The bank also plans to open a branch in Switzerland, Wang said, as Chinese lenders seek to expand their networks overseas amid slowing profit growth at home.

CCB on Friday posted a 2 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit, joining its peers among China's large banks in seeing falling profits and rising bad loans as the country's economic growth slows.

China's lenders are planning to expand the practice of selling bad loans bundled into financial products to reduce the unpaid debt on their books as profit growth slows and annual results show a spike in soured loans.