Some Hong Kong banks decline mortgages for Evergrande's off-plan projects

The Bank of East Asia

21/07/2021 12:35

HONG KONG, July 21 (Reuters) - Some banks in Hong Kong,
including HSBC  HSBA.L  and Standard Chartered  STAN.L , are
declining loans to buyers of Chinese property developer
Evergrande Group's  3333.HK  two uncompleted residential
projects in the city, three mortgage brokers said on Wednesday.
    The steps highlight increasing worries over the indebted
company's liquidity among the financial industry. News emerged
this week that a Chinese court had frozen a $20 million bank
deposit of Evergrande, and a Chinese city regulator briefly
suspended the sales of two of its projects.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2OV0GG urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2OW052
    Other banks that are halting mortgages include Bank of East
Asia  0023.HK , but the brokers said the banks were still
approving mortgages for one Evergrande development that had
completed construction. They will also grant mortgages for other
developments when they complete. 
    The Chinese developer currently has three developments in
Hong Kong - one is ready to deliver to buyers now while two are
due to complete construction in August and October.
    HSBC declined to comment. Standard Chartered and Bank of
East Asia did not immediately respond to request for comment.
    Evergrande said in a statement other banks were still
positive about approving mortgages for its off-plan units so it
expected the impact would be small, and its developments were
progressing as scheduled. It did not name any banks in the
statement.

 (Reporting by Clare Jim; Additional reporting by Alun John;
Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
 ((clare.jim@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2912 6653; Reuters
Messaging: clare.jim.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))