China is easing limits on lending capacity at three of the country’s four biggest banks following a four-year low in new loans, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed bank officials. The China Banking Regulatory Commission is allowing the banks to use more of their deposits to make loans after the nation’s exports, industrial production and retail sales dropped in the first two months, said the officials. The regulator is increasing the 2012 loan-to-deposit ratio target for the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (1398.HKG, 601398.SH) to 63%, and is also reviewing lending targets at China Construction Bank (0939.HKG, 601939.SH) and Bank of China (3988.HKG, 601988.SH). “Deposit growth has been sluggish since late 2011 and severely constrained banks’ lending capacity this year. The regulator wants to alleviate the problem by giving banks adequate resources to lend,” said James Liu, an analyst at CIMB Securities.
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