Chinese banks have slowed their pace of lending after almost depleting this year's quota and as regulators urged them to control credit expansion toward the year-end, Reuters reported on Dec 2, citing the Shanghai Securities News.

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Some branches of Chinese banks have already stopped lending, and are starting to prepare for next year's business, the newspaper said.

China's new lending totaled 6.88 trillion yuan ($1 trillion) during the first 10 months of this year, compared with the annual target of 7.5 trillion yuan, leaving little room for credit expansion in December, the newspaper said.