and this one about banks!!!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601089&sid=aWOutIEZ50Q0
ICBC Says Loan Growth Stabilized, Will Lend to State Projects
Email | Print | A A A By Bloomberg News
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. said loan growth has stabilized since mid-January and pledged to focus on financing existing government projects as regulators try to rein in credit.
Beijing-based ICBC said in a statement today that credit growth was relatively fast in the first half of January. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported ICBC, the worlds largest bank by market value, ordered branches in Beijing to stop issuing new loans until the end of the month. ICBC said it wont halt new lending.
Chinas benchmark stock index has lost 8 percent this year on concern a government clampdown on lending will dent the economic recovery. Record credit in 2009 helped ICBC defend its position as the worlds most profitable bank, beating Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s $13.4 billion of net income. ICBC said late yesterday profit probably rose 15 percent last year.
The governments priority is to contain inflation, so they want to make sure lending wont get out of control, said James Liu, a Shanghai-based analyst at Sinopac Financial Holdings Ltd. who rates ICBC outperform.
ICBC said it wont rush and will pace its lending, according to todays statement. Yesterdays release indicated full-year profit of 127.4 billion yuan ($19 billion), trailing the average 129.1 billion yuan estimate among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, based on a 2008 figure given by the company.
Shares of ICBC rose 0.9 percent at the midday break in Hong Kong. The stock has slipped 12 percent in 2010.
Credit Tightening
Chinas banks doled out a combined 9.59 trillion yuan in new loans last year, helping the government engineer a turnaround in the worlds third-largest economy. The credit binge sparked concern that asset bubbles would form, bad loans would rise and inflation pressure would increase.
Last year was an extraordinary year, said Liu Xiaochang, a Nanjing-based analyst at Huatai Securities Co., who forecast a 14.6 percent gain in ICBCs profit. Chinese banks stood their first test since being listed and proved to be more resilient than many people had expected.
The government plans to cap new loans at 7.5 trillion yuan this year to avoid inflation and curb asset bubbles. Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said last week that banks that failed to meet regulatory requirements were told to limit lending.
Chinese banks advanced 1.45 trillion yuan of loans in the first 19 days of this month, the 21st Century Business Herald reported yesterday, without citing anyone. Thats equivalent to 19 percent of the CBRCs full-year target.
Manufacturing Impact
Credit Suisse Group AG said in a note yesterday that a countrywide lending halt started Jan. 19 and could lead to a meaningful decline in manufacturing.
Bank of China Ltd. has stopped extending new corporate loans in the Shanghai area, except for clients who have repaid earlier borrowings, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday. China Construction Bank Corp.s branch in the city has been told to screen applications for personal loans and mortgages more carefully and to stop new lending once a monthly quota is met, another person said.
Shenzhen Development Bank said yesterday profit last year may have jumped about eightfold to 5 billion yuan. The Shenzhen- based company gained 1 percent to 22.26 yuan as of 11:11 a.m.
--Luo Jun. With assistance from Bei Hu in Hong Kong. Editors: Joost Akkermans, Andreea Papuc
To contact the reporter on this story: Jun Luo in Shanghai at [email protected]
Last Updated: January 27, 2010 00:51 EST
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