Smaller banks face 'barrier'

Many approaching limit regulators placed on loan-to-deposit ratio

SHANGHAI - The banking regulator's loan-to-deposit ratio requirement is increasingly choking the development of the country's small and medium-sized lenders, who generally have more difficulty attracting deposits than their bigger counterparts.

While the lending spree that followed the global financial crisis in 2008 accelerated lenders' growth, its aftermath is starting to show this year, with the loan-to-deposit ratios of many small banks approaching the regulator's limit of 75 percent.