China's Small Banks Report Drop in Non-performing Loan RatioChina's city commercial banks have registered a 29.29 percent ratio of its non-performing loan, the lowest in their history, a forum was told on July 30.Lai Xiaoming, a senior official with the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, said by the end of June, the non- performing loan ratio for China's city commercial banks was estimated at around 29.29 percent, or 114.1 billion yuan (13. 75 billion US dollars), down 1.08 percent from a quarter earlier. "It is the first time the ratio fell below 30 percent in city bank history". Thirteen of the country's 102 city commercial banks boast non- performing ratio of less than 15 percent, compared with 50 percent of another 27 banks, said Lai. "On average, the non-performing loan ratio for city commercial banks is still too high and that will block future development unless they can be removed soon." Earlier this year, the central bank announced it would more closely oversee the issuance of new loans by city banks in a bid to ward off potential risks of accumulating more bad loans and lift profitability. China's city commercial banks, formerly city credit unions, were set up about six years ago. |
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