January bank lending triples in China

New bank lending in China more than tripled in January from the previous month, beating forecasts and hitting a record high, as the central bank seeks to shore up slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.

Chinese banks extended 3.98 trillion yuan (HK$4.88 trillion) in new yuan loans in January, up from 1.13 trillion yuan in December, according to data released by the People's Bank of China yesterday.

Chinese lenders tend to front-load loans at the beginning of the year to get higher-quality customers and win market share.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted new yuan loans would soar to 3.69 trillion yuan in January. The new loans were higher than 3.58 trillion yuan a year earlier.

"The market worries that policy stimulus this round may not be as strong and effective as in the past few rounds. I think this set of data helps to address part of the concern but not the full problem," said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

"I expect further policy easing measures in coming months. There may be more RRR (reserve requirement ratio) and rate cuts, and financing for property developers is also critical to watch."