The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said yesterday it plans to begin on-site inspections of the four State-owned commercial banks as of Monday.

The commission will check the banks' trial implementation work of the internationally accepted five-category loan classification system, which the institutions are required to formally adopt next year.

CBRC will also examine the banks' non-credit assets and off-the-balance-sheet assets. It had previously required the banks to carry out self-inspections in those areas in the first half of this year.

The four State-owned commercial banks are the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, the Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China.

"The purpose is, on the basis of further reducing non-performing loans, to urge State-owned commercial banks to improve their management in a comprehensive way," a CBRC spokesman said.

The four banks' non-performing loan rates dipped by 4.02 percentage points from the end of last year to 2 trillion yuan (US$240 billion) at the end of June, or 22.19 percent of their total outstanding loans.

The commission said inspectors will pay particular attention to the reasons behind the rapid loan rises in the first half of this year, as well as the possible risks and risk-prevention efforts by lenders.

Chinese commercial banks accelerated lending this year to meet growing business funding needs.

(China Daily September 12, 2003)