Apr. 14, 2008 (China Knowledge) - The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, said on its website during the weekend that non-financial companies issue bonds with maturities of less than one year on the domestic inter-bank market without its approval.

The new rule, which will be effective from Apr.15, aims at simplifying the application procedures for companies seeking direct financing as well as reducing bank loan risks. Therefore, companies with such plans do not have to go through the administrative examination, however, they still need to apply to the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors.

China started to allow companies to offer short-term bonds to qualified institutional investors on the inter-bank market since May 2005. As of the end of last year, RMB 769.3 billion worth of short-time bonds and RMB 320.3 billion worth of debt were issued by 316 companies.