China Development Bank will launch a second round of asset-backed securities (ABS) this week after a pilot securitization Dec. 15, the Shanghai Securities News said Saturday.

The central bank has given the go-ahead for China Development Bank to sell up to 15 billion yuan (US$1.86 billion) in asset-backed securities, the paper said.

The size of this week's offer could exceed the first one, when 4.18 billion yuan in bonds backed by a portfolio of industrial loans were issued, the paper quoted the deputy director of the bank's Shanghai branch, Xu Guozhen, as saying.

The bank plans to offer more such securities next year, Xu added.

China could consider allowing more companies to secure various assets to help expand their fund-raising channels, a senior central bank official was quoted as saying in domestic media Friday.

"In the future, we could consider securitizing assets such as accounts receivable and rental income," the China Securities Journal said, citing an article by deputy central bank governor Wu Xiaoling as saying.

China launched its first mortgage-backed securities Thursday. Other than the China Development Bank offering, China Construction Bank Corp. (CCB) (HK: 0939) sold 3.1 billion yuan in securities backed by residential mortgages.

The pilot program will be expanded next year, with top foreign exchange lender the Bank of China and other commercial lenders soon to join as well, a senior official with China's banking regulator was quoted as saying in a separate article in the paper. He did not give a time frame.

(Shenzhen Daily December 19, 2005)