By staff reporters Fang Huilei and Wenxiu 

(Caijing.com.cn) China's big state-owned commercial banks extended around 168 billion yuan worth of new loans in July, down sharply from the 497 billion issued in June, banking sources told Caijing on August 4. 

The sharp decline in lending signals the effectiveness of the central bank's "fine tuning." While officially maintaining a "moderately loose" monetary policy, the People's Bank of China and other regulators have been informally warning commercial banks to maintain the integrity of the credit evaluation process and have penalized aggressive lenders by requiring them to purchase billions of yuan worth of bills.  

The big four banks usually account for around half of the banking industry's loans. However, their share has fallen in recent months as urban commercial banks, a category that includes former credit cooperatives which have restructured, rapidly expand their disbursements. In June, new lending by the bank industry totaled 1.53 trillion yuan, giving the big four a one-third share of the loan market. 

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (SH 601398;HK 1398) disbursed around 33 billion yuan worth of new loans last month, down from 64 billion in June, the sources said. China's largest bank by value earlier set a full-year lending cap of 1 trillion yuan, allowing it to lend just 175 billion for the second half.  

However, a senior official who declined to be named told Cajing Aug. 4 that ICBC intends to extend 500 billion yuan in new loans in the second half.

Bank of China's (SH 601988;HK 3988) new loans were around 80 billion yuan, down from 177 billion in June, the sources said. The Beijing-based bank was ordered in July to purchase 45 billion yuan worth of one-year central bank bills after it recorded the highest loan growth of all China's commercial banks in the first half.  

China Construction Bank (SH 601939;HK 0939) issued around 55 billion yuan worth of new loans in the month, down from 79 billion in June. The bank said earlier it will focus on reducing the risk attached to lending to projects under the government's stimulus package in the second half, and set a full-year lending target of around 900 billion yuan, leaving it just under 200 billion to lend for the last six months.  

Agricultural Bank of China is the only one of the big four not to set a full-year lending target, saying it will determine its lending scale in response to demand and economic conditions. 

The PBOC has said it will allow major banks the freedom to set their own credit policy, and would regulate growth in the money supply via open market operations and the issue of central bank bills. That policy stems from a reluctance to declare formal loan quotas, which it fears will send a negative signal on the economy.  

Adjusting the structure of loan portfolios has become a major task for commercial banks in the second half as they need to disperse risks built up in the first six months and make room for further lending, bankers told Caijing.

Banks have the option to spread the risks with other lenders and institutional investors via syndicated loans mechanism, or offer financing under the guise of wealth management products. However, the China Banking Regulatory Commission recently moved to tighten its oversight of the wealth management sector, reinstating a rule requiring banks to seek regulatory approval 10 days prior to launching new products.
 
The central bank and regulators are under pressure to ensure China has sufficient liquidity to sustain its economic recovery, while at the same time guarding against the possibility of inflation and a rise in bad debt in the fourth quarter and 2010.  

Chinese banks made 7.4 trillion yuan in new loans in the first half. In June, new lending totaled 1.53 trillion yuan.

The industry's ratio of current assets to short-term debt, which measures banks' ability to pay off short-term obligations, fell to 42.9 percent at the end of June compared with 46.2 percent at the end of 2008, according to CBRC statistics.

Meanwhile, Chinese commercial banks reported core capital adequacy ratio of 9.2 percent at the end of the first quarter, down from 9.9 percent at the end of 2008, according to CBRC data.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission issued new regulations in late July covering fixed-asset loans, project financing and working capital loans, all of which aim to ensure loans go to the real economy and deter speculation in the stock or property markets. 

In the same month, the regulator also stopped approving subordinated debt issues for small and mid-sized banks, and warned that it might do the same for larger lenders. The rapid first-half loan growth has depressed capital adequacy ratios, prompting banks to issue more subordinated debt to maintain their ability to keep lending.

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Full article in Chinese: http://www.caijing.com.cn/2009-08-04/110220453.html