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April 26, 2007 -- Five foreign banks in Chongqing revealed their total loans reached 1.49 billion yuan (US$192.6 million) at the end of 2006, an increase of 70.8% from 872 million yuan (US$112.7 million) in 2005, reported the Chongqing Daily.

Meanwhile, their total assets accounted for 2.2 billion yuan (US$284.5 million) in 2006, an increase of 112.2% from 1.04 billion yuan in 2005 (US$134.5 million) while their total deposit reached 120 million yuan in 2006 (US$15.5 million), an increase of 495% from 20.17 million yuan in 2005 (US$2.6 million).

The Chongqing Banking Bureau said that with the full liberalization of the banking sector, a large amount of foreign banks will continue to come to Chongqing in the future, reported the newspaper.

A report published by the China Banking Regulatory Commission in January, said that China will encourage foreign banks to operate in the western region.