Hong Kong bank loans will probably grow this year at almost half the pace in 2014 as the cooling mainland economy makes lenders more cautious in extending credit, according to the city's de facto central bank.

Loan growth in 2015 may match or be weaker than the 6.6-percent annualized increase achieved from January to August, Norman Chan Tak-lam, chief executive officer of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), said in a media interview. That compares with last year's 12.7-percent expansion, according to HKMA statistics.

Chan said the mainland's slowing economy has dented demand for corporate funds and banks have become more wary before lending.

Hang Seng Bank Ltd has said it is cautious on the outlook for the mainland's credit environment. Bank of East Asia Ltd, which has reported higher bad loans on the mainland, is focused on lending to State-owned enterprises and big corporations, its Deputy Chief Executive Officer Brian Li said last month.

Chan said he expects the amount of yuan loans to stabilize or increase slightly following the mainland currency's depreciation in August, damping demand for US and Hong Kong-dollar lending.

He believes the mainland economy will not see a hard landing as there's still room for the country to cut interest rates and the reserve requirement ratio for banks.

The Chinese mainland's statistics bureau reported on Monday that gross domestic product rose 6.9 percent in the three months through September from a year earlier. While that beat economists' estimates for 6.8-percent growth, it was the slowest quarterly expansion since the first three months of 2009, based on previously announced data.

(HK Edition 10/20/2015 page10)