Chinese banks' net profit growth rates are estimated to fall to below 15 percent year-on-year at the end of this year, an official of the People's Bank of China said on Wednesday.

Sheng Songcheng, head of the central bank's statistics department, made the prediction at a forum. He also added that growth rates will slow to 10 percent year-on-year next year.

The marketization of interest rates will cause difficulties to some small and medium financial institutions, which will have to attract customers by higher-than-average deposit interest rates and lower-than-average loan interest rates, Sheng said.

Some may even face a serious crisis, which serves as a warning for speeding up the construction of a deposit insurance mechanism, he added.

Small and medium enterprises may still find it difficult to obtain loans, Sheng said. The liberalization of interest rates will do little to ease the difficulties because it mainly aims to optimize resource allocation.