China's four largest state-owned banks have seen large outflows of deposits, the Financial News reported Thursday. Analysts said the money may be rushing into private lending markets.

In the first 15 days of September, outstanding deposits of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank shrunk by 420 billion yuan (about US$66 billion) from the end of August.

Meanwhile, new loans extended by the Big Four banks' over the same period increased only 87 billion yuan.

The lion's share of withdrawn deposits may have flown into the country's private lending market, the newspaper cited analysts as saying.

Available data and anecdotal evidence indicate a considerable amount of these deposits is being used by private lenders to extend high-interest credit lines to investment and finance companies, financial commentator Ye Tan said.

Echoing the statistics are news reports that bosses of several private companies in Wenzhou have run away from huge debts and the exposure of a major criminal case involving illegal financing.

Since April, 29 Wenzhou companies have seen their bosses flee huge high-interest debts after running into financial trouble.

China's business press carried the story above on Thursday.

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