Shanghai’s Banking Sector Sees Lending Balance Jump over 10% in 2022, Tech Enterprise Loans Leap 65%

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The Shanghai banking sector has seen double-digit growth in its outstanding loans in 2022, as the Chinese government pushes for the financial sector to provide greater support to the real economy with an especial focus on the tech and green sectors.

According to figures from the Shanghai banking regulator, as of the end of the third quarter the loan balance of Shanghai’s banking sector stood at 10.26 trillion yuan, for an increase of 725.3 billion yuan, or 10.9%, compared to the same period last year.

The Shanghai banking regulator said that this growth in lending “contributed financial force to stabilisation of the macro-economy.”

The regulator also highlighted salutary changes to the structure of lending in Shanghai. As of the end of the third quarter the medium and long-term loan balance stood at 6.54 trillion yuan, for an increase of 336.7 billion yuan compared to the start of the year, to account for 63.7% of the total.

Infrastructure development loans stood at 1.28 trillion yuan, for year-on-year (YoY) growth of 7%, while the private enterprise loan balance was 2.55 trillion yuan, accounting for 36.9% of all corporate loans, for an increase of 8.2 percentage points compared to the end of the second quarter.

As of the end of the first half the green loan balance was 821.5 billion yuan, for YoY growth of 52.9%.

“The real economy is the keystone of socio-economic development,” said a representative from the Shanghai banking regulator. “The authority has continually supported finance returning to its origins (金融回归本源), put the focus of financial services on the real economy, guided the Shanghai banking and insurance sectors to focus on key areas and weak linkages in the economy, continued to increase the effective supply of finance, and accelerated the establishment of new development conditions.”

Shanghai has also placed heavy emphasis upon financial support for tech enterprises in 2022. As of the end of the first half around 18,000 tech enterprises in Shanghai had taken out loans with local banks, for a YoY rise of 59%. Their loan balance was 654.2 billion yuan, for a YoY rise of 65.2%.