May 18, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)<601398><1398>, the nation's largest lender, expects its consumer lending to rise to RMB 1 trillion by the end of 2010, up 25% from RMB 800 billion (HK$908.45 billion), the Standard reported, citing Li Xiaopeng, vice president of the bank, as saying.
In the first four months of this year, the bank's consumer loans had surged 82% from a year earlier due to increasing spending on items such as automobiles.
ICBC said last month that it lent RMB 649.5 billion in the first quarter of this year. Corporate loans, retail loans and discounted bills accounted for 61%, 7.6% and 31% of ICBC's new loans, respectively.
According to China Knowledge's earlier report, the lender had extended a total of RMB 39.08 billion in loans to Southwest China's Sichuan Province by the end of April to fund the province's post-quake reconstruction work.
H-shares of ICBC, the world's largest lender by market value, swelled 3.56% to close at HK$ 4.65 last Friday.