China's top 4 banks lent $125bln in Q1

ICBC led with $39.5bln loans as upward trend in lending is seen to continue this year.

China's four biggest listed banks extended net new loans totalling about 850 billion yuan ($124.5 billion) in the first quarter, two banking sources said on Wednesday, about a third of the national total.

The four banks have traditionally accounted for about half of total new lending by Chinese banks, although their share fell during last year's credit boom and that trend appears to have continued into early this year.

Chinese banks extended 2.6 trillion yuan ($380.85 billion) in net new local-currency loans in the first quarter, according to figures provided by the People's Bank of China.

Among the Big Four, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world's largest bank by market capitalisation, lent the most at roughly 270 billion yuan ($39.54 billion), the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

View the full story in Reuters.