By the end of October, the balance of small-business loans of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) had reached 436.8 billion yuan ($65.81 billion), an increase of 126 billion yuan ($18.98 billion), which for the first time surpassed 100 billion yuan ($15.07 billion) this year. Its growth rate was 24 percent higher than the average growth rate of the bank's loans for enterprises during the same period last year.

In regard to risk control, the bank's non-performing loan ratio of small-business loans was 0.9 percent by the end of October, lower than the average level of the industry.

An official from ICBC said during the next five years, the bank plans to keep the annual growth of small-business loans at 140 billion yuan ($21.09 billion). The balance of the small-business loans is expected to reach 1.1 trillion yuan ($165.73 billion), with the account numbers surging to 140,000 by the end of 2015.

ICBC has 264 special branches and 953 service centers for small businesses at the moment, covering most areas of business of small enterprises.

China's business press carried the story above on Wednesday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.