BoComm seeks faster growth in loans to SMEs
Bank of Communications (BoComm)<601328><3328>, the fifth largest bank in China by assets, wants to grow its loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at a rate faster than its average loan growth in 2009, since the Shanghai-based lender seeks higher margins, the Shanghai Daily reported on Thursday.
Qian Wenhui, executive vice president of BoComm, said that loans to smaller businesses will grow but he did not reveal a specific target for this year.
Banks can charge more for loans to smaller businesses since the risk exposure is greater.
BoComm, which set up a team exclusively to serve smaller businesses earlier this year, has more than 30,000 small-business clients, loans to which currently represent more than 50% of its loan balance.
In the first quarter of this year, the lender's new loans to SMEs reached RMB 4.81 billion, reflecting growth 3.65 times the growth recorded in the same period of last year.
In the first four months of this year, China's new loans hit a record high of RMB 5.17 trillion (US$757 billion). The official data for May is due to be released soon.
BoComm posted a net profit of RMB 7.94 billion (US$1.16 billion) in the first quarter of this year, slightly up 0.53% year on year, due to reduced interest rates, according to an earlier report from China Knowledge.
|
|
|
|
