China's small, medium-sized banks operating stably: regulator

BEIJING -- The overall operations of China's small and medium-sized banks are stable and their risks are generally controllable, an official said Thursday.

The country's small and medium-sized banks handled non-performing loans worth 594.5 billion yuan (about $87.8 billion) in the first half of this year, up 118.4 billion yuan over the same period last year, Qi Xiang, spokesperson for the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, told a press conference.

As the most vibrant community in the banking sector, small and medium-sized banks have total assets of 96 trillion yuan, accounting for about 29 percent of the banking sector's total.

The banking regulator has moved to reduce the financial risks of small and medium-sized banks since the beginning of the year, Qi said.

Thursday's press conference also revealed that the non-performing loans ratio of China's commercial banks stood at 1.67 percent at the end of June, down 0.06 percentage points from the beginning of 2022.