China’s banks throw open spigots in January, lend record 3.23 trillion yuan

China’s banks made the most new loans on record in January – totaling 3.23 trillion yuan ($477 billion) – as policymakers try to jumpstart sluggish investment and prevent a sharper slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

Chinese banks tend to front-load loans early in the year to get higher-quality customers and win market share. But they have also faced months of pressure from regulators to step up lending, particularly to cash-starved smaller firms.

Net new yuan lending last month was far more than expected, and eclipsed the last high of 2.9 trillion yuan in January 2018.

Read More.. Source Reuters