S&P: China national banks unaffected

Standard & Poor's said it expects the impact on China's national banks to be far more manageable than that on the smaller institutions in the affected regions.

Banks are also likely to suffer more from corporate loans than mortgages, the agency added.

"State-owned commercial banks and joint stock commercial banks in China are expected to be able to withstand the effects on their loan quality," S&P analyst Qiang Liao said in a written statement.

This is because they have far more sizable and diversified loan portfolios, Liao noted. Based on statistics published by the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the aggregate exposure of all national banks to Sichuan province only accounted for 3.21% of their total loan books at the end of 2007.

Ratings on Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp., Bank of China Ltd., Bank of Communications Co. Ltd. and China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. are therefore not affected.

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