Chart of the Week: Check out Hong Kong banks' mainland-related lending

Loan growth to mainland state-owned entities came in at 4 .4% in September 2016.

BMI Research believes that Hong Kong banks will adopt a cautious approach when lending to corporates operating in the mainland amid the ongoing structural slowdown, as the number of profitable lending opportunities decline. "In particular, we expect lending to SOEs to remain weaker than that to the private sector."

According to figures from the HKMA, loan growth to mainland state-owned entities came in at 4 .4% y-o-y in September 2016, which was lower than the expansion of 14 .4% y-o-y recorded for mainland private entities.