CBRC increases pressure on lenders on bubble fears

Banks and trust companies in big cities are facing increased regulatory pressure to tighten lending to the property sector as worries about an asset bubble grow. The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has instructed banks and trust companies in 16 cities, including Shanghai, Shenzhen and several provincial capitals, to examine their real-estate-related business between January and September, Caixin reports. Firms are required to evaluate whether they have broken regulations or collaborated with other companies to work around government restrictions on lending to property developers and individuals who took out loans for down payments. Banks were told to determine whether their clients had used credit cards or other consumer loans to pay for home mortgages, and to verify whether they had made loans or funneled funds from wealth-management products to help real estate firms buy land.