Banks give over 537b yuan in credit to firms amid outbreak

Financial institutions in the banking sector had provided more than 537 billion yuan ($77 billion) in credit to fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak as of noon on Friday, said Liang Tao, vice-chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

"The regulator will soon launch more measures to give stronger credit support to various industries," said Liang at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office on Saturday. "It will continue to lead banks' efforts on increasing loans to small and micro enterprises, making loans accessible to a larger number of small businesses, and further lowering their lending costs."

He highlighted the importance for banks to take accurate measures to renew loans for small businesses to reduce their financial pressure.

The regulator will take banks' efforts to help small and private businesses resume production into consideration while evaluating the performance of banks. It will encourage banks to increase the proportion of credit loans and medium- to long-term loans to total loans and keep business financing costs at a reasonable level, in addition to urging banks to develop loan products for companies engaged in businesses that are seriously affected by the epidemic, such as wholesale and retail, catering, accommodation, culture and tourism.

"The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission will further promote the implementation of risk management and due diligence institutions, allowing banks to appropriately increase the tolerance for nonperforming loans," he said.

Chinese commercial banks' nonperforming loan ratio was 1.86 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2019, leaving room for China to adjust its tolerance for bad loans amid a public health emergency.

In the meantime, insurers have expanded the scope of liability for their insurance products and simplified the procedure for settlement of claims.

So far, 35 life insurers have included death, disability and serious illness caused by the novel coronavirus pneumonia in their liability for compensation for over 400 insurance products, without increasing premiums. A total of 74 insurers offered accident and life insurance programs for free to medical personnel, disease control personnel and their family members, and the total sum insured reached about 9 trillion yuan.