China Citic Bank Corp., one of the 12 joint-stock lenders that operate across the country, is planning to sell as much as 40 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) of perpetual bonds, the bank said Tuesday while reporting strong results for 2018.

Chinese lenders are stepping up to issue perpetual bonds to supplement capital since regulators flashed a green light for such long-term borrowing to alleviate mounting capital pressures on the banking sector amid slowing economic growth. This form of borrowing doesn’t have a fixed maturity date and could remain outstanding perpetually.

In January, Bank of China became the first lender to win approval to raise $40 billion by selling perpetual bonds.

According to a company report, Citic Bank’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 12.47% at the end of 2018, 0.82 percentage point higher than the previous year.

Citic Bank reported its fastest profit growth in five years for 2018, boosted by the bank’s expansion in retail banking. Net profit rose 4.6% to 44.5 billion yuan. The bank’s total assets expanded 6.9% to 6 trillion yuan at the end of 2018, the Citic Bank said.

Related: As ‘Big Four’ Banks’ Capital Dwindles, Regulator to OK Perpetual Bonds