By the end of last year, foreign banks in Shanghai had vastly increased their lending and taken in a substantially larger amount of deposits.

 

Figures released by the central bank's Shanghai headquarters indicated that during the last two months of 2006, foreign banks in Shanghai loaned more than 10 billion yuan, accounting for 58 percent of the total loans made by the municipality's financial institutions over the same period.

 

These figures, released one month after the banking sector was fully opened, indicate foreign banks have gained the confidence to become more aggressive in making renminbi loans.

 

"Such awesome growth meets expectations," said Huang Yiping, an economist at Citigroup. He estimated that foreign lenders, on the track of the fastest-growing period in China, would keep such momentum for the next few years.

 

The central bank's sub-headquarters said on Tuesday that overseas lenders in Shanghai are seeing a fast-escalating market share in terms of deposits and lending.

 

In 2006, foreign financial institutions in Shanghai reported a combined 63.8 billion yuan in new loans made in local and foreign currencies, a year-on-year increase of 14.4 billion yuan.

 

The funds mainly went to the manufacturing sector, which borrowed a total of 29.5 billion yuan in 2006. Loans to the tertiary industry and individual clients also saw fast growth last year, according to the central bank. But it said outstanding loans to the tertiary industry and individual clients jumped 36 percent and 34.7 percent respectively.

 

Figures also showed that foreign players preferred short-term renminbi loans, with foreign banks providing 29.3 percent of renminbi loans last year, an increase of 15.8 percent.

 

"We expected there would be considerable growth following the full opening of China's banking sector," Huang said.

 

"Their domestic business would keep growing, and such substantial growth is anticipated for the next few years," he added.

 

But the economist noted that despite huge expansion, foreign lenders still take a small share of the China market, as they mainly target high-end clients, especially those enterprises and individuals seeking to globalize their businesses.

 

(China Daily January 11, 2007)