New lending at China's "Big Four" state banks totaled 253 billion yuan ($39.75 billion) in May, while credit across all financial institutions grew an estimated 700 billion yuan, the Reuters reported on Tuesday citing the China Securities Journal.

In April, China's banks issued 681.8 billion yuan of new loans, missing market forecasts of 800 billion yuan and raising questions over whether Beijing has money supply settings sufficiently loose to keep the economy on an even keel.

China's Big Four are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, China Construction Bank Corp, Bank of China Ltd and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. They typically account for 30 to 40 percent of total bank lending.

In the first two weeks of May, new lending by the four banks had been flat and total deposits extended April's decline to fall by around 200 billion yuan, the Shanghai Securities News reported last month.