China Merchants Bank plans to expand loans to small and medium enterprises this year, expecting the sector to outperform lending to bigger clients, an unnamed official said yesterday.

Loans to SMEs accounted for 45 percent of the bank's total corporate lending last year and the bank expect the figure to grow by one to two percentage points this year.

The bank expects its total lending to grow 11.4 percent this year after recording a 19-percent growth last year amid tighter monetary controls, the bank said earlier.

SME clients accounted for 78.9 percent of the Shenzhen-based bank's corporate clients last year, with outstanding loans of 189.5 billion yuan (US$26.9 billion).

(Shanghai Daily March 26, 2008)