November 8, China’s outstanding loans extended to small- and micro-sized enterprises amounted to RMB 14.75 trillion by the end of September, accounting for 27.9% of the nation’s total outstanding loans, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Shang Fulin, the newly-appointed chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), said on Monday that the commission had made a series of policies to support the development of small and micro-sized enterprises in recent years.

"Effective policy guidance has guaranteed the sustainability of banking services provided to small and micro-sized companies," Shang said.

The latest data from the commission shows that banks’ total outstanding loans to small firms reached RMB 10.1 trillion by the end of September, up 24.3% from a year earlier, much higher than the average 8.4% growth for all outstanding loans.

Loans made to micro-sized businesses and individual businesses stood at RMB 4.65 trillion by September, accounting for 8.8% of all loans and 22.7% more than at the beginning of this year, the report said.

China’s banking regulator has implemented an array of measures to encourage lending to small and micro-sized enterprises.

In 2008, the commission asked that the growth of loans to small firms should not be slower than either that of total lending or the previous year's growth.

At the end of this May, the CBRC issued a circular imposing a lower non-performing loan (NPL) requirement for small firms to offer better access to financing.

On Oct. 24, the CBRC revealed a supplementary notice to encourage financial support for the country's small and micro-sized enterprises.

The detailed plan required commercial banks to give more support to small and micro-sized enterprises that borrow less than RMB 5 million and increase tolerance for NPLs to those firms.

Thousands of small companies are potentially at risk of bankruptcy as a tighter monetary climate at home raises financing costs, while falling demand because of economic woes in Europe and the U.S. and rising labor and raw material costs add additional pressures.