China's banking regulator on Tuesday said the banking industry, pillar of the nation's financial system, has an important role to play in transforming the country's economic growth pattern as it highlighted four areas in boosting the process.

Jiang Dingzhi, vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, on Tuesday urged more efforts be made by the nation's banking sector in expanding consumption-related loans amid the government calling to boost domestic consumption.

More channels should be opened to meet the varied consumption needs from residents as financial support should lean on the construction of affordable housing. Loans to property developers who make small and medium-sized homes at medium and low prices should be met, but be restricted to them for speculative purposes, Jiang said.

Also, the structure of bank credit should be further optimized in line with the restructuring of the nation's economy, Jiang said at an industrial forum held here Tuesday.

This could mean polluting and energy-intensive companies may face more difficulties in obtaining loans from banks.

Meanwhile, Jiang urged banks to improve their financial services in the rural areas in China as part of the coordinated development between the rural and urban areas.

Further, Jiang said banks should work to improve the availability of financial support for small-sized companies and low-income residents.

Jiang said total outstanding bank loans to small-sized companies stood at 7.1 trillion yuan (1.1 trillion U.S. dollars) by the end of September, an increase of 22.3 percent, or 1.3 trillion yuan, compared to the beginning of the year.

The growth rate was higher than the average 14.5 percent increase of new loans for all companies during the period, Jiang said.