Chinese Banks' Capital Adequacy Improves in Q4

BEIJING, Feb. 21 -- China's banking regulator on Friday said the country's commercial banks had improved their capital adequacy at the end of last year.

Data released Friday by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) showed the average capital adequacy ratio of Chinese commercial banks stood at 12.2 percent by the end of the fourth quarter last year, 0.6 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.

The figure was also 0.8 percentage points higher than the beginning of 2010.

The CBRC data showed the core capital adequacy ratio of Chinese banks stood at 10.1 percent at the end of the fourth quarter, 0.6 percentage points higher than the third quarter, and up 0.9 percentage points from the start of the year.

The CBRC requires that capital adequacy ratio for large banks should be at least 11.5 percent, while the ratio for small- and medium-sized banks should be at least 10 percent.

The People's Bank of China, or the central bank, has hiked bank reserve requirement ratios seven times since the start of last year to soak up liquidity and curb inflation.

China's major banks have to set aside a record 19 percent of their reserve and small- and medium-sized banks must keep 15.5 percent of their deposits as reserves.