China’s biggest banks are close to reaching annual lending quotas and plan to stop expanding their loan books to avoid exceeding the limits, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China (BOC) and Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) are only extending new loans as existing ones get repaid. Lenders are also cutting holdings of discounted bills to make room for longer-term debt. Regulators are monitoring banks’ loan balances on a daily basis to ensure the official target of CNY7.5 trillion in new lending for 2010 is not exceeded. Domestic banks extended about CNY6.9 trillion of new loans this year through October and lenders have made close to CNT600 billion of new loans so far this month. The central bank last month raised interest rates for the first time since 2007, and told banks to set aside more deposits as reserves twice in November, limiting their capacity to lend.