People’s Bank of China officials told representatives from banks and financial firms that the central bank would let them include deposits from non-bank financial institutions–such as asset managers and securities firms–when calculating their total deposit bases, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. Mainland banks still cannot lend more than 75% of total deposits, but the new move effectively broadening the basket of assets eligible for inclusion that category is roughly equivalent to injecting RMB1.5 trillion (US$242 billion) into China’s banking system, according to analysts’ estimates. The latest measures are significant but stop short of the country’s 2008 stimulus, in which the central government spent US$586 billion to lessen the impact of the global financial crisis.
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