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Banks suspend mortgage loans

By Song Jingli (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-04-14 15:50

Some bank outlets in Shanghai have suspended mortgage loans to home buyers, the China Securities Journal reported Thursday.

An anonymous developer said, the Shanghai outlets of the China Industrial and Commercial Bank, the Agricultural Bank of China, the China Minsheng Banking Corp Ltd and the Industrial Bank Co Ltd all suspended issuing loans. "Banks do want to lend, but they may have no money for lending" the developer said.

China has raised the reserve ratios for banks nine times since last year, and 3 trillion yuan of banks' capital has been frozen as a result.

Sources with the above mentioned banks said they have not stopped mortgage loans, but have more strict requirements for granting these loans.