Small-loan firms sprout in China

China's small-loan business kept expanded rapidly in the first quarter with additional  3,027 small loan companies by end of March.

The latest figure was compared to 2,614 at the end of 2010 and about 500in 2008, indicating more private funds are likely to enter the financial market through the small-loan business.

Small-loan companies issued 42.7 billion yuan or US$6.55 billion in new loans in the first quarter, bringing the total outstanding small loans to 240.8 billion yuan, said a statement on PBOC's website.

Small-loans companies employed 32,097 staff nationwide by the end of March this year, according to People's Bank of China statistics.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Liaoning Province and Jiangsu Province ranked as the top three in the number of small-loan companies, having 322, 236, and 229 companies, respectively.

The full news is available at xinhuanet.com.