China Big 4 Banks Had $49 Billion Deposits in 20 Days, 21st Says
February 23, 2012, 4:53 AM ESTBy Bloomberg News
Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- China’s four biggest banks attracted 310 billion yuan ($49 billion) of deposits in the first 20 days of February and advanced 75 billion yuan of new loans in the period, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.
The increase in deposits in the first 20 days was 150 billion yuan less than the gain in the first 10 days, the newspaper reported, citing unidentified officials.
Banks’ competition for deposits has intensified after negative real rates of return on savings prompted a diversion of money to higher-yield investment products. Depositors last month pulled 800 billion yuan from savings accounts, about 1 percent of China’s total, central bank data showed. It was the largest monthly decline in at least 12 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The country’s central bank on Feb. 18 announced that it will cut the proportion of deposits that lenders must set aside as reserves by half a percentage point to fuel lending and sustain economic growth as the housing market cools and Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis weighs on exports. The new lower reserve requirement level begins from tomorrow.
Lending for the period rose at the country’s top three banks and declined only at Bank of China Ltd., 21st Century said.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest lender by market value, advanced about 50 billion yuan of new loans in the first 20 days, while China Construction Bank Corp. lent about 10 billion yuan, according to the report. Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. lent less than 10 billion yuan, according to the report, without giving an amount for Bank of China’s new loans in the period.
--Luo Jun. Editor: James Gunsalus, Linus Chua
To contact Bloomberg News staff of this story: Luo Jun in Shanghai at jluo6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chitra Somayaji at csomayaji@bloomberg.net
