The China Banking Regulatory Commission approved the establishment of 11 private sector banks, six of which have been given approval to start operations, Shanghai Securities News reported, citing Ling Gan, director of the regulator's city bank department.

Ling noted that the total assets of privately owned banks in China reached 132.9 billion yuan as of the end of the third quarter, while their combined nonperforming loan ratio stood at 0.54% and the provisioning coverage ratio at 471.21%.

As of Dec. 8, US$1 was equivalent to 6.88 Chinese yuan.