CCR World Magazine

BEIJING, CHINA— China's banking watchdog said Wednesday it had called on the nation's banks to ensure "balanced and steady" credit growth, amid concerns over the risk of bad loans following rampant lending in 2009.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission said it urged banks in a nationwide conference call on Tuesday to "strengthen credit management" and "strictly control" any rebound in non-performing loans.

"The domestic and global macroeconomic and financial situations suffer from complexity and uncertainty, which has highlighted the need for scientific management in our banking industry," the commission said in a statement on its website.

The banking regulator said it also encouraged lenders to beef up supervision of loans to the real estate sector, which some analysts believe is at risk of overheating.

The statement comes a day after reports that authorities had ordered several banks to stop issuing new loans this month amid growing fears that the extra money is fuelling inflation and could lead to a sharp rise in bad debts.

Credit Suisse said in a research note that six banks had confirmed new lending had been suspended from January 19 after an emergency meeting by the central bank?s monetary policy bureau. It didn't name the banks.

New loans at Chinese banks totalled 9.6 trillion yuan (1.4 trillion dollars) last year -- nearly double the 2008 figure -- and the banking regulator has set this year's target at about 7.5 trillion yuan.

Liu Mingkang, chairman of the banking regulator, last week denied state media reports that banks had been ordered to stop lending for the rest of January.

"I've made it very clear about bank lending. We have never asked the banks to stop lending," he said.