Three quarters of foreign banks in China said tighter monetary policies have curbed their loan business, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey. Tight liquidity, the need to keep the loan-to-deposits ratio under 75% by the end of this year and credit controls from regulators are cited as three major curbs on loan growth. Since October, China has raised interest rates four times and raised the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) nine times. Banks in China issued a combined CNY17.6 trillion of new yuan-backed credit in 2009 and 2010. New yuan loans totaled CNY3.6 trillion in the first five months of this year, down 12% from the same period last year. Meanwhile, overseas lenders said the regulatory environment, high turnover rate and competition from domestic rivals are the biggest challenges of doing business in China. Pwc”s annual survey of 42 foreign banks also found that domestic Chinese banks are posing less of a competitive threat than before. There were 127 foreign banks operating in China, and their total assets represented 1.83% of total Chinese banking assets, PwC said. Forty foreign banks have opted to be locally incorporated. They made up 87% of all foreign banking assets.