Economist Expects Improvement of Banking AssetsChinese commercial banks are seeing a positive change in their loans structure, which will hopefully improve the quality of banking assets in the near future, a senior bank official said Friday.From January to September, the amount of loans granted by commercial banks increased by one trillion yuan, 300 billion yuan more than the amount of the corresponding period last year, said Yi Gang, a deputy secretary-general of the Monetary Policy Committee of the People's Bank of China. "The eye-catching change is that the increasing demand for loans came more from the banks' businesses rather than the central bank's guiding pro-active policies," he said. Housing loans increased by more than 100 billion yuan to reach 260 billion yuan by September this year, and consumer loans, car loans and student loans all surged as well, he added. "That's to say, Chinese banks are lending more to individuals and families," Yi stressed, adding that this portion of loans has become a new growth opportunity for domestic banks. "Of the 10 trillion loans, consumption loans accounted for 1.5 percent last year. However, this figure is expected to reach 3.5 percent this year," he said. He noted that there are "inevitable reasons" for the continuing rise of commercial banks' non-performing assets. "Most probably, it has now reached the highest points and will go down soon," he said. Yi said that hopefully in the near future, the banking sector will gradually surpass the stages of being in a high risk situation and holding a high ratio of non-performing loans and move into healthy development. |
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