China Minsheng Banking Corp. said Saturday it had received regulatory approval to sell 5.8 billion yuan (about US$849 million) of subordinated bonds on the domestic interbank market to replenish its capital reserves.

The Beijing-based bank's capital adequacy ratio, which measures a bank's ability to deal with risky assets, stood at 10.83 percent at the end of 2009 after a surge in lending. That is marginally above the minimum 10 percent demanded by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The medium-sized lender extended 883 billion yuan in new loans last year, up 34.1 percent year on year.

President Hong Qi said last week the bank's capital adequacy ratio would rise to around 12 percent after the bond issue.

Big Chinese banks this year are rushing to sell shares and bonds to replenish capital.

Bank of Communications, the country's fifth-biggest lender, received approval Friday to raise 42 billion yuan through a rights issue in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The nation's third largest lender, Bank of China, was given go-ahead by securities regulator Monday to sell 40 billion yuan of convertible bonds.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's biggest lender, and China Construction Bank have announced plans to raise a combined 100 billion yuan in bond and stock sales.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2010)