China’s four largest state-owned banks extended new loans worth a total of 205.6 billion yuan in July, a 7.35 billion yuan jump from the 198.25 billion yuan recorded in June, reports yicai.com, citing an industry insider.

Since July, banks loosened their purse strings for loans as the number of depositors rose. The new financial quarter also tends to ease up the banks’ loan policy, the report said.

The report estimates that China’s banking industry overall extended between 550 billion and 650 billion yuan in new loans last month.

Some bank branches reported that they felt a tightening in loan extensions in July, leading to an increase in loan rates.

A-shares of Bank of China (601988.SH) shed 2.01 percent to close at 2.93 yuan per share in today’s morning trading session.