China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), China's banking watchdog, launched an inspection on the real estate loan of 12 commercial banks in eight cities or provinces of China, said sources with the CBRC Tuesday.

Starting at the beginning of April, an investigation began in four state-owned commercial banks and 12 joint-stock commercial banks in Shenyang, capital of northeastern Liaoning Province; north China's Tianjin Municipality; Qingdao, a city of east China's Shandong Province; east China's Shanghai Municipality; Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province; Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province; Ningbo, a city in Zhejiang, and southwestern Chongqing Municipality.

So far, all those commercial banks have finished the self-inspection work and the CBRC with the help of local banking regulatory commissions will spot-check the results of those banks.

An official with the CBRC said the inspection aims to strengthen supervision on real estate loan of commercial banks and to prevent loan risks. It is also a move corresponding to the macro-economic control of the central government to stabilize the soaring price of real estate in major cities of the country.

The inspection includes the loan and risk status of various real estate, capital sources and sale conditions of real estate projects and the implementation of regulations and systems on real estate loan.

(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2005)