The CBRC has ordered major State-owned lenders to assess their loan quality as economic growth slows and more loans turn sour, the Shanghai-based China Business News reported on Monday.The regulator ordered the top five lenders – Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, China Construction Bank Corp, Bank of China Ltd, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd and Bank of Communications Co Ltd – to examine the classification of all their loans as of the end of last year, the newspaper reported, citing an anonymous source.It reported that the results of this examination had been submitted to the CBRC at the end of last month.The order was actually issued by the CBRC at the beginning of this year, another source from the banking regulator told China Daily. This source said that the commission will comb through and summarize materials submitted by the lenders, but the results are unlikely to be released.Yan Qingmin, assistant chairman of the CBRC, said earlier that the regulator is tightening the reins on the classification of loans among commercial banks. The regulator expects that, by taking this action, credit risks generated as a result of large-scale lending during the financial crisis to shore up the economy could be contained.The five lenders’ outstanding loans exceeded 28 trillion yuan $4.4 trillion at the end of last year, while their NPLs totaled 316 billion yuan.

via Banks’ NPL figures ‘don’t add up’|Industries|chinadaily.com.cn.