Beijing has again warned against irresponsible lending by Chinese banks, as mainland markets prepare to reopen after a week-long lunar new year shutdown.

Investors are watching for signals about how Beijing plans to handle the risk of overheating and inflation as a result of the credit boom triggered by China’s stimulus package.

China’s banking regulators issued two directives on Saturday exhorting banks to manage risk more carefully and verify that loans are used for their intended purpose. “Lenders should extend loans according to the real demand of borrowers and must not set unreasonable loan quotas or scramble to extend loans,” according to a new rule from the China Banking Regulatory Commission on working capital loans.

Regulators reminded banks working capital loans must not be used to finance capital investment or equity stakes. The CBRC also confirmed draft rules stating personal loans of more than Rmb300,000 ($44,000, £28,000, €32,000) may not be disbursed to a borrower but transferred to an end-recipient, such as a house seller.

“This announcement is consistent with efforts the regulator has been making since lending was boosted a year ago to fund China’s stimulus program, but these measures are focused on managing risk, rather than slowing credit flows,” said Andy Rothman, chief China economist at CLSA, the financial services group.

China has raised bank deposit reserve ratios twice this year signalling concern about overheating and inflation. Bank lending more than doubled from Rmb4,200bn in 2008 to Rmb9,590bn last year. Banks extended 19 per cent of this year’s Rmb7,500bn lending target in January alone.

“The CBRC will continue to use a combination of quantitative measures and moral suasion to control the pace of lending,” said Jing Ulrich, head of China equities and commodities at JPMorgan. “Importantly, the regulators are emphasising that loans must be used for their intended purposes, instead of being diverted to asset markets.”

Banking regulators are clearly worried that some loan proceeds continue to be improperly diverted into property and stock markets.

Meanwhile qualified investors in mainland equity markets will from Monday be able to open accounts for trading of stock index futures after final approval from the securities regulator for the country’s first index futures contract. The contract will be based on the CSI 300 index that tracks the top 300 mainland listed firms. Trading is expected to begin some time next month.

China is about to launch margin trading and short selling of stocks, along with index futures, as it strives to build a global financial centre in Shanghai by 2020.