BEIJING - Chinese commercial lenders are facing increasing pressure due to lack of capital and will continue to seek refinancing channels in 2012, said analysts. 

"Although the regulators may postpone the implementation of the new capital adequacy standards, banks are still facing great pressure to replenish capital, especially given that most of their refinancing plans this year were not completed," said Guo Tianyong, director of the Research Center of the Chinese Banking Industry at the Central University of Finance and Economics. 

China's listed lenders may raise more than 100 billion yuan ($15.78 billion) through equity financing next year to replenish their capital, because of rising pressure posed by higher capital requirements and their failure to complete financing plans through the equity market this year, the Beijing-based China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday. 

The Agricultural Bank of China Ltd, Industrial Bank Co Ltd and Bank of Communications Co Ltd are facing such pressure and will probably implement refinancing plans in 2012, the newspaper cited banking professionals as saying. 

"The banks' dependence on lending money to make a profit will not change in a long time. Relatively looser credit controls next year will increase capital consumption among lenders. 

"Meanwhile, deposits are drifting away and equity financing is difficult to get approved," said Qiu Zhicheng, analyst at Guosen securities Co Ltd. 

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) announced earlier this year new rules setting tougher criteria for lenders' capital adequacy, which will take effect at the beginning of 2012, based on new global regulatory standards for bank capital adequacy and liquidity. 

The government-mandated level for major banks is 11.5 percent. For non-systemically important banks, the requirement stands at 10.5 percent. 

The requirement for the core capital adequacy ratio (CAR) will be at least 9.5 percent for major lenders and 8.5 percent for other lenders. 

But there has been a rumor that implementation of the new regulatory standards might be pushed back to grant lenders more buffer time. 

The new rules are expected to drag a lender's core CAR down by 0.8 percentage point, reported the China Securities Journal, citing anonymous sources. 

"We must keep a balance between the international standards and China's economic conditions. Excessively tough standards will affect banks' credit support to the real economy, which actually produces goods and services," said Wang Zhaoxing, vice-chairman of the CBRC, earlier in December at a forum in Beijing. 

Facing higher capital-adequacy requirements and tightening controls over credit due to the nation's "prudent" monetary stance, several Chinese banks have announced plans to raise funds on the capital market. 

They might issue subordinated debt on the inter-bank bond market to raise more capital, said analysts. 

In the near future, domestic joint-stock commercial banks will have to rely on themselves to replenish their capital, rather than turning to external capital sources, said Yan Qingmin, assistant chairman of CBRC, in an article published in the latest issue of China Finance. 

"The difficulty of lenders in raising capital externally is increasing and capital supplementation via subordinated debt and other methods will face stricter restrictions," Yan said. 

He said that commercial lenders should change their development pattern, increase the proportion of non-credit businesses and use capital more efficiently to achieve compliance with the new standards. 

Guangzhou Jia Yu medical equipment Limited