Central Bank: The work of continuously optimizing the credit structure and reducing the interest rate of outstanding housing loans in the first three quarters of 2023 is nearing the end

On October 13, china.com.cn (reporter Wang Jinrui) Today, the Central Bank held a press conference on financial statistics for the third quarter of 2023. Ruan Jianhong, director of the Department of Investigation and Statistics and press spokesman of the Central Bank, Zou Lan, director of the Department of Monetary Policy of the Central Bank, and Li Bin, director of the Macro Prudential Administration of the Central Bank, attended the conference and answered questions from reporters.

Ruan Jianhong said at the press conference that since this year, the People's Bank of China has adhered to the principle of stability and progress in stability. The steady monetary policy has been precise and powerful, increased counter cyclical adjustment efforts, effectively served the real economy, effectively prevented and controlled financial risks, and promoted the overall recovery of China's economy. "The financial data of the first three quarters showed that the liquidity was reasonable and abundant, the credit structure continued to optimize, and the financing cost of the real economy declined, providing an appropriate monetary and financial environment for the economic recovery." Ruan Jianhong said.

Continuous optimization of credit structure in the first three quarters

Today, the Central Bank released the Financial Statistics Report for the First Three Quarters of 2023. The report shows that at the end of September, the balance of broad money (M2) was 289.67 trillion yuan, up 10.3% year on year; The balance of RMB loans was 234.59 trillion yuan, up 10.9% year on year; The balance of RMB deposits was 281 trillion yuan, up 10.2% year on year.

"From the perspective of total amount, liquidity is reasonable and abundant, and credit is growing reasonably." Ruan Jianhong said that since this year, the central bank has used various monetary policy tools to inject liquidity accurately and effectively. In the first three quarters of 2023, the reserve requirement ratio will be lowered twice, and the deposit reserve ratio will be lowered by 0.5 percentage point accumulatively, providing strong support for financial services to the real economy. In the first three quarters of 2023, the increase of social financing scale was 29.33 trillion yuan, 1.41 trillion yuan more than the same period last year, and RMB loans increased by 19.75 trillion yuan, 1.58 trillion yuan more than the same period last year.

From the perspective of structure, the credit structure has been continuously optimized, and financial support has become more precise and powerful. Ruan Jianhong mentioned that since this year, the central bank has made full use of structural monetary policy tools to continue to increase support for key areas and weak links of the national economy, such as manufacturing, inclusive finance, scientific and technological innovation, infrastructure construction, etc.

According to Ruan Jianhong, by the end of September 2023, the balance of medium and long-term loans in the manufacturing industry will increase by 38.2% year on year, 27.3 percentage points higher than the growth rate of various loans; The balance of medium and long-term loans in infrastructure industry increased by 15.1% year on year, 4.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate of various loans; The loan balance of "specialized, special and new" SMEs increased by 18.6% year on year, 7.7 percentage points higher than the growth rate of various loans; The balance of inclusive small and micro loans increased by 24.1% year on year, 13.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate of various loans; The number of Pratt&Whitney microenterprise credit granting accounts was 61.07 million, up 13.3% year on year.

"From the perspective of interest rate, we have pushed down the financing cost of the real economy and reduced the burden of residents' interest." Ruan Jianhong further said that since this year, the central bank has continued to improve the formation and transmission mechanism of market-oriented interest rates, achieved remarkable results in the reform of interest rate quotations in the loan market, enhanced the transmission efficiency of monetary policy, and significantly reduced the cost of social financing.

Ruan Jianhong introduced that, in the first three quarters of 2023, the one-year and five-year LPR dropped by 20 basis points and 10 basis points respectively, promoting the further decline of enterprise loan interest rates. In September, the weighted average interest rate of new loans issued by enterprises was 3.85%, 14 basis points lower than the same period last year. At the same time, we will promote the implementation of policies to reduce the interest rate of the first housing loan in stock, effectively reduce the interest burden of residents, improve consumer expectations, and enhance consumption capacity and confidence. At the end of September 2023, the weighted average interest rate of existing housing loans is 4.29%, 42 basis points lower than that at the end of last month, and a significant decline has been achieved.

The work of reducing the interest rate of stock housing loans is almost finished

"Since the beginning of this year, the domestic economy has continued to recover and improve, but it is facing challenges such as insufficient demand and some enterprises' operating difficulties. As the pillar industry of real estate, the relationship between market supply and demand has also undergone major changes, and needs to adjust and optimize policies in a timely manner to better meet the rigid and improving housing needs of residents." Zou Lan said.

Zou Lan said that the Central Bank took comprehensive consideration of the characteristics of economic and financial operations and planned the timing of policy introduction reasonably. Since late August, a series of interest rate policies have been intensively implemented to play a positive role in promoting consumption, stabilizing investment and expanding domestic demand. The pertinence and synergy of interest rate policies have been significantly enhanced.

Zou Lan introduced that, first, the quoted interest rate of one-year loan market was reduced by 10 basis points. Targeted support for enterprise liquidity loans, small and micro enterprise loans and consumer loans. The second is to promote the reduction of the interest rate of the first housing loan in stock, implement the dynamic adjustment mechanism of the interest rate policy of the first housing loan, reduce the lower limit of the interest rate policy of the second housing loan, and support the steady and healthy development of the real estate market. The third is to guide banks to reduce the deposit interest rate of one year and above by 10-25 basis points in view of the long-term trend of fixed deposits, and promote corporate residents to increase investment and consumption.

In view of the latest progress in the adjustment of the interest rate of the first housing loan in stock, Zou Lan said that the work to reduce the interest rate of the housing loan in stock is almost finished. After the release of relevant policies on August 31, financial institutions resolutely implemented the concept of "finance for the people". From the perspective of symbiosis and common prosperity with customers, they actively studied and promoted the market-oriented way to make profits to customers, and constantly refined specific implementation measures by category. Under the premise of the rule of law, strive to reduce the interest rate of stock housing loans to the maximum extent and at the fastest speed.

"At present, the vast majority of borrowers have enjoyed substantial benefits for the first time." Zou Lan said that from September 25 to October 1, the first week of implementation, 98.5% of the eligible stock of the first house loan interest rate has been cut, a total of 49.73 million transactions, 217 trillion yuan. The adjusted weighted average interest rate was 4.27%, with an average decrease of 0.73 percentage points. The major banks will also complete the adjustment within one month for other situations that need the borrower to provide supporting materials and the bank to confirm.

"People generally report that the lower interest rate of stock housing loans has significantly reduced the interest burden, reduced the motivation for early repayment of loans, and increased the confidence and ability of investment and consumption, especially for wage earners and self-employed businesses who bought houses when the interest rate was high in the early stage." Zou Lan further said that, The interest rate adjustment of stock housing loans significantly affects the interest expenditure during the whole contract period. It is expected that the effect of this measure will continue to play and gradually benefit the entire economic operation. "

Currently, systemically important banks operate steadily in general

On September 22, 2023, the Central Bank and the General Administration of Financial Supervision released the list of China's systemically important banks in 2023, identifying 20 domestic systemically important banks, including 6 state-owned commercial banks, 9 joint-stock commercial banks and 5 urban commercial banks.

According to Li Bin, the asset scale of these 20 systemically important banks accounts for 61% of the total assets of China's banking industry and 55% of the total assets of the financial industry. They are relatively large in scale, highly complex in structure and business, and have strong relevance with other financial institutions.

"Systematically important banks have a solid foundation for the overall stability of a sound financial system. Therefore, it is of great significance to assess and identify systemically important banks and propose higher regulatory standards and requirements for systemically important banks to improve the macro prudential policy framework and enhance the stability of the financial system." Li Bin said.

Li Bin pointed out that for systemically important banks, on the basis of micro prudential supervision, they should also accept additional supervision based on macro prudential supervision, including meeting the additional capital requirements of 0.25% to 1.5% above the minimum capital and reserve capital requirements, and meeting the additional leverage requirements of 0.125% to 0.75% above the leverage ratio requirements. At the same time, they should formulate and submit the "two plans" on time, One is the recovery plan, and the other is the proposal of the resolution plan to strengthen the internal constraint mechanism of capital and continuously improve the level of comprehensive risk management, internal control compliance and governance.

"At present, systemically important banks are operating steadily on the whole, playing a role of stabilizer and ballast in the financial system." Li Bin said that as of the end of June this year, the average non-performing rate of systemically important banks was 1.27%, the core tier one capital adequacy ratio and capital adequacy ratio were 10.57% and 15.65% respectively, and the provision coverage rate reached 246%, It has maintained high asset quality and risk offsetting ability.

key word: interest rate stock Li Bin finance