China Securities Finance Corp lends 260 billion yuan to brokerages

BEIJING (Reuters) - China Securities Finance Corp has provided 260 billion yuan ($41.87 billion) in credit lines to 21 brokerages to help them buy stocks via proprietary trading, the country's securities regulator said on Wednesday. The credit lines were issued after the state-backed margin finance company obtained liquidity support from the central bank, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement on its official weibo micro blog site. (Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)