China Construction Bank (CCB) will sell US$4.4 billion in subordinated bonds in the latest sign that China’s banks are under pressure to raise capital while Beijing pushes them to expand lending, the Wall Street Journal reported. CCB, the country’s second-largest lender by assets, will issue the bonds between February 24 and March 2. The total issuance may increase by up to US$1.5 billion. The planned sale comes on top of the US$11.7 billion of subordinated bonds that CCB said in January that it planned to issue over a two-year period in order to raise its capital-adequacy ratio. Chinese bank lending more than doubled in January to US$237 billion. This has lead to concerns over a possible surge in bad loans later this year and highlighted the need for banks to boost capital.
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