Bloomberg

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Some Chinese banks have raised lending rates to as much as 1.45 times the benchmark level to rein in credit growth, the official China Securities Journal reported today.

One large commercial lender has told branches to charge between 1.1 and 1.45 times the rate, depending on which industries borrowers are in, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified official from the bank. The key one-year borrowing cost is 5.81 percent. The report didn’t name the lender.

The surge in lending typical of the start of each year may be hampering government efforts to rein in liquidity, cool inflation and prevent asset bubbles. This month’s lending reached 1.2 trillion yuan ($182 billion) by Jan. 24, according to a China Business News report today citing an unidentified person. That would compare with 481 billion yuan last month.

The China Securities Journal report didn’t specify the duration of the loans that the increased rates apply to.

At Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s biggest lender by market value, Beijing-based press officer Xie Taifeng said he’s not aware of any increase in rates.

“The process of setting the lending rate is market based, our headquarters doesn’t give specific instructions to branches on that,” Xie said.

No comment was immediately available from Bank of China Ltd. or China Construction Bank Corp.