China Denies Bank Lending Halt Reports

BEIJING, Jan. 20 -- Liu Mingkang, China's top banking regulator, said today the China Banking Regulatory Commission hadn't told banks to stop lending, denying a report the CBRC had asked several banks to stop extending new loans in the remainder of January.

Liu spoke briefly to Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong. He didn't elaborate.

The state-run China Securities Journal cited a person at a mid-sized lender as saying the CBRC gave verbal instructions to the big four state banks and several medium-sized banks to stop extending new loans for the rest of this month.