Credit Agricole sells off discounted Asian loans, Wall Street Journal reports

Credit Agricole is offloading Asian loans at steep discounts in an attempt to shrink its balance sheet, reports the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources.

It is reported that 62 loans worth a total of $1.2 billion are being sold by Credit Agricole, more than four times the amount sold in 2011.

The bank is reported as selling a slice of a HK$9 billion loan to Swire Pacific which was made last June, at 95 cents on the dollar, a steep discount for a newly priced piece of strong credit.