March 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 on Friday (Mar 23).

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).

On Thursday (Mar 22), the Chongqing municipality Banking Bureau organized a banking financial institutions meeting, attended by the managers of the city's 29 financial offices and the Chongqing central bank's management ministry, reported the newspaper.

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.

Meanwhile, according to the newspaper, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a report on Thursday (Mar 22) that China will encourage foreign banks to operate in the western region.