China's CITIC Bank Corp, the banking unit of the nation's largest investment firm, would scale back lending growth in the second half of this year and adjust credit structure, Saturday's China Daily quoted a senior official from the bank as saying.

Wang Kang, general manager of the bank's budget and accounting department said the bank expected to transform some 80 billion yuan to 100 billion yuan bill discount credit it extended so far this year into normal loans in the second half.

"The move would help direct more capital to the real economy," he said.

The Beijing-based bank saw its net profit drop 16.28 percent in the first half over the same period last year. Earning per share was 0.18 yuan (US$0.026), down 18.18 percent year on year.

By the end of June, the bank's bad loan ratio stood at 0.99 percent, representing a decrease of 0.37 percentage point over that at the end of last year.

"We expect the bank's profitability to keep improving in the second half, as we assume the interest spread may have touched a tough in May and the massive lending in the first half will put the bank in a better position in terms of profit growth," Wang said.

(China Daily August 29, 2009)