BEIJING, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's banking and insurance authorities have disposed of more non-performing loans during the first three quarters of this year as the country's crackdown on financial irregularities steps up.
Non-performing loans worth about 1.4 trillion yuan (about 197.9 billion U.S. dollars) were handled during the January-September period, growing by 176.5 billion yuan over one year ago, data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission showed Monday.
Authorities issued 2,912 punishments during this period, involving total fines of 775 million yuan.
China has increased efforts to contain financial risks in recent years. Growth of the banking sector's assets slowed from about 15 percent two and a half years ago to roughly 8 percent today.
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