Lenders boost consortium loans

Aggregate consortium loans provided by Chinese banks reached 6.97 trillion yuan ($1 trillion) in the first half of 2018, up 8.87 percent from the end of last year, industry data showed. The funds have mainly gone to shantytown renovation, housing construction, transportation and warehousing, manufacturing, water conservancy, the environment and public utilities, according to the China Banking Association, a non-profit industry organization. Pan Guangwei, vice-president of the CBA, said fairly good socioeconomic benefits had been achieved as the projects financed by consortium loans were all significant to the development of the real economy. Compared to conventional loans extended by a single bank, syndicated loans are often led by large banks and enjoy the advantages of dispersing loan risks, reducing peer competition and encouraging profit-sharing among lenders. COMPANIES AND MARKETS TAL Education Group, a Beijingbased company, launched an online platform on Tuesday for young go learners in China, eyeing a boom- ing local market as more Chinese students seek to enhance their overall ability in their spare time. The platform, supported by the company’s artificial intelligence technology, can help users to match rivals at similar levels and then give a score for their moves in each game. The platform will also comment on each move players make and give advice accordingly. said in a statement. The engine valve springs in the vehicles may bear a higher load than designed, and tiny impurities in the springs may lead to fractures, causing engines to malfunction or stall. Subaru will replace the problematic valve springs free of charge.