(Yicai Global) March 10 -- Chinese lenders have issued an increasing sum of special financial bonds for small and micro-sized enterprises this year amid rising issuance costs while aiming to offer more loans to small companies.

Five commercial banks, including China Construction Bank and Ping An Bank, have launched these types of debt instruments this year as of yesterday while the collective sum jumped by 46.3 percent to CNY52 billion (USD8 billion) from a year ago, according to data from Yicai Global.

For these five lenders' products, the coupon rates were above 3 percent and even went as high as 3.58 percent while a year earlier the rates had mostly been below 3 percent.

The current market liquidity is not as high as last year so it is not surprising that bond yields have increased slightly, said Zhou Maohua, analyst in the financial market department of Everbright Bank.

The notes are part of China's inclusive financing push. Banks may raise funds via these special bonds to lend more to small companies while improving their capital adequacy and non-performing loan ratios.

Small-scale companies are key targets of government policies so the scale of special financial bonds is expected to further grow, Zhou told Yicai Global.

Amid economic recovery, small and micro-sized enterprises are still weak and need financing support, said Zhou. The issuances can also help banks broaden their financing channels and improve their asset quality, he added.

Rural Banks Could Join

The group could be bigger. Participating lenders' regulatory requirements may be lowered, thus giving more banks the opportunity to issue such bonds in the future, Yicai Global learned from industry insiders.

For now, most of the bond issuers have been joint-stock banks and urban commercial banks while rural lenders face higher borrowing costs and may need more support to take part, according to an insider.

The above 3 percent yields are not that high as the yields of other types of bonds, including perpetual bonds, issued during the same period are as high as 5 percent, a senior banking analyst told Yicai Global.

"This is mainly due to policy support. These financial bonds can expand the channels to support small and micro-sized companies and solve their financing problems," the analyst added.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi