Chinese lending companies extended 141.4 billion yuan in the first nine months, according to data released by the People’s Bank of China on Wednesday.

By the end of September, China had a total of 5,629 lending companies that do not take in deposits. The outstanding loans they extended amounted to 533 billion yuan, said the bank.

Pan Gongsheng, deputy governor of the central bank, said last week the government will accelerate development of small financial institutions that focus on providing support to small businesses, including such lending companies, to improve credit support to small businesses.

The authorities are gearing up to clear up barriers preventing private capital from setting up such institutions independently, he said.

China should encourage private lending companies with good operating conditions to transform into commercial banks that could also take in deposits, said Wu Xiaoling, a former deputy central bank governor and now vice-chairman of the National People's Congress Financial and Economic Affairs Committee.

“But with a minimum shareholding requirement of the main initiator, private investors lack enthusiasm for such things,” she said.

The limitation that lending companies cannot get bank loans for more than 50 percent of their assets should be abandoned, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce suggested earlier.