China's central bank governor on Monday called on major financial institutions to speed up issuing new loans under the loan prime rate (LPR) mechanism in a bid to cut down real interest rates. Governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) Yi Gang told 24 major financial institutions at a work conference to adopt the LPR mechanism in new loan issuance "as soon as possible" amid a reform to reduce financing costs for enterprises. The PBOC earlier this month unveiled a plan to reform the country's LPR mechanism. Introduced in 2013 and disclosed every trading day, the LPR functions as a market-based reference for ... (full story)