The country's five largest lenders will have to keep their non-performing loan (NPL) ratios below 5% and their capital adequacy ratios above 8% according to new requirements released by the China Banking Regulatory Commission. The rules were originally only tied to Bank of China and China Construction Bank as part of their restructuring processes but will now be extended to encompass Bank of Communications, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China. The move comes shortly after international accountancy firm Ernst & Young withdrew a report which claimed that China's NPLs totalled US$911 billion, far in excess of official figures. The report offered information which conflicted with that filed by E&Y in its audit of ICBC. The company is now revising the report and has launched an internal inquiry into how the situation came about.