China central bank urges banks to issue loans on basis of LPR reference rate

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's central bank governor Yi Gang on Monday urged banks to use its reference rate, the loan prime rate (LPR) as soon as possible in making loans, the central bank said.In a meeting with officials of 24 financial institutions, Yi asked them to remove an implicit floor in lending rates and lower real loan interest rates, the bank said in a statement.Earlier, the central bank's Shanghai branch told another meeting of banking institutions that have licenses to issue Chinese..