BEIJING (Reuters) - China's central bank has cut an additional 50 basis points off the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for Bank of Beijing in a bid to boost lending to small businesses and the rural sector, the bank said on Monday.
In October, the People's Bank of China cut interest rates and lowered the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve in a bid to lower corporate financing costs and spur economic growth.
The PBOC also announced a targeted RRR reduction for qualifying banks, a move aimed at better supporting agricultural firms and small businesses.
The additional 50-basis-point RRR reduction takes Beijing Bank's ratio to 14 percent, the bank said in response to a request from Reuters, the first public indication that the October targeted RRR cut had reached commercial lenders.
Beijing Bank is a commercial bank with 400 branches. Its assets reached 1.52 trillion yuan ($238.62 billion) at the end of 2014, according to its website.
While the move will free up additional capital to boost the bank's lending, Chinese banks are suffering from sluggish loan demand and struggling with rising soured debts as the world's second-largest economy is set for its slowest growth pace in a quarter century.
