Agricultural Bank of China posts record lending

The $22 billion worth of loans to farmers spur bank to beef up operations in cities.

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) said the lending for farmers in 2009 exceeded the combined amount for the previous five years.

Total outstanding small-loans for farmers stood at 67.3 billion yuan ($9.27 billion) by the end of 2009, up by 62.6 billion yuan ($9.17 billion) compared to the beginning of last year.

The bank reported 1.75 trillion yuan ($256.30 billion) of new deposits in 2009, up 27.7 percent year on year. Total lending by the bank last year increased by 1.03 trillion yuan ($150.85 billion), 658.9 yuan more than the year earlier.

Xiang said the bank would start making a shift of its business strategy with more efforts to be made this year in achieving breakthroughs in its urban business.