Chairman Jiang Jianqing of the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China said this year’s record lending won’t lead to an increase in bad debts in 2010, and predicted that loan profitability among Chinese banks will improve.
Chairman Jiang told reporters new loans at China’s largest bank will double this year even as credit growth slows in the second half. Jiang also said he expects China to maintain its current monetary policy.
ICBC, the world’s most profitable bank, extended a record $146 billion of new credit in the first nine months as it helped finance China’s $586 billion stimulus plan. Vice President Niu Ximing said the bank made $4.8 billion of new loans in October and expects to maintain similar levels in November and December.
Chairman Jiang said, “ICBC has witnessed unprecedented lending growth. Very probably, ICBC’s new lending will be double the scale of that in previous years.”
Bloomberg reported that Chairman Jiang said China should be “very careful whether the further price development will lead to global inflation”.