A total of 421 Chinese bank officers accused of serious crimes were transferred to judicial departments in the first six months of the year.

The figure was revealed here Monday by the China Banking Regulatory Commission. 689 of the 1,559 staff members who received administrative punishment were managers.

The commission said in a Monday press release that 480 irregularities involving a total of 520 million yuan had been uncovered from January to June. The number of irregularities was 89 less than the first semester of 2005 and 240 less than the second semester of 2005.

From January to June, Chinese banks recorded an aggregate outstanding balance of non-performing loans of 1.28 trillion yuan, 43.51 billion yuan less than the end of last year. The proportion of non-performing loans went down 1.1 percentage points over the same period to 7.5 percent.

Along with the tougher inspection of irregularities, China's banking watchdog also took a series of measures to enhance capital support for agriculture, small enterprises and individual consumption.

Personal consumption loans by Chinese financial institutions surged to 2.34 trillion yuan from January to June, up 10.9 percent or 136.4 billion yuan year-on-year.

The credit extended by major financial institutions to small enterprises reached 3.25 trillion yuan, about 217.9 billion yuan more than the same period last year.

Bank loans for agriculture stood around 1.30 trillion yuan in June, up 20.6 percent or 183.7 billion yuan year-on-year.

Source: Xinhua