LPR Likely Unchanged In October

The October Loan Prime Rate is set to remain unchanged, as the anchor rate of medium-term lending facility was kept steady this week. Quoting banks lacked motivation to reduce LPR quotation, as policymakers guided banks to reduce the financing cost of the real economy and lower the existing housing mortgage rates, which have put their net interest margins under pressure, said Wang Qing, analyst at Golden Credit Rating. Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank added the current new and existing loan interest rates have already dropped significantly. The one-year LPR was reduced by 20bp to 3.45% during the year, and the five-year was reduced by 10bp to 4.2%. (Source: Securities Daily)