China central bank changes rules for calculating deposits: report

China's central bank on Saturday issued a circular on adjusting rules for calculating deposits, which will increase the base of fund available for lending at commercial banks, according to web portal Sina.com.

Starting next year, some interbank deposits, including savings for securities and transaction settlement and savings held by banks for non-deposit-taking financial institutions, will be calculated as regular bank deposits, Sina Finance reported, while posting two photos of a document claimed to be released by the People's Bank of China.

"The above-mentioned deposits will be calculated under the scope of handing in required reserves, but the reserve requirement ratio will temporarily be fixed at zero," the unverified photos read.

At present, large commercial banks in China are required to put aside 20 percent of the total deposits they receive as reserve.

The central bank is not available for comment, but the latest adjustment will raise the base for calculating loan-to-deposit ratio and leaving more fund available for commercial banks to make loans or investment.