Bank of China (BOC), the third largest lender in the country, said Monday it would offer less new loans this year as the bank strives to rein in its credit growth at a reasonable rate.

But the bank would still maintain its relatively high lending growth rate in order to meet client demand and allow for economic growth, said BOC President Li Lihui, who emphasized the growth of loans his bank would offer this year would be smaller than that for last year.

The bank would restructure some of its lending services in 2010, said Li, without elaborating.

Li also said the BOC has supported the Renminbi (RMB) cross-border trade settlement plan since it was introduced last July. Total value of transactions of RMB settlements by the bank came to 18.7 billion yuan (US$2.74 billion) by the end of February.