Credit soars, deposits down in July

The leading four commercial banks issued 220 billion yuan ($35 billion) in new credit while losing 1 trillion yuan in deposits in the first three weeks of July, according to Shanghai Securities News.

The first week of July saw credit soar by 170 billion yuan but deposits were down by 700 billion yuan, which means that during the following two weeks, 50 billion yuan was added in credit while 300 billion yuan in deposits were lost.

The four major banks are Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Agricultural Bank of China.

Ni Jun, an analyst with Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co, told Shanghai Securities News that the credit explosion at the beginning of the third quarter came after the credit crunch at the end of the second quarter. Another reason was that off-balance-sheet credit had been moved onto balance sheets.

However, the fall in deposits dragged down credit growth in the following two weeks.