BEIJING, July 8 -- Outstanding loans of China's consumer finance companies stood at 834.9 billion yuan (about 115.9 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of 2022, up 17.5 percent from a year ago, according to an industry report.

Total assets owned by these firms also rose 17.5 percent to 884.4 billion yuan at the end of last year, according to the report issued by the China Banking Association.

Consumer finance companies have managed to lower interest and commission payments while working to facilitate consumption, the report said.

In 2022, they exempted interest payments of 5.19 billion yuan and handled deferred repayment of loans worth 5.89 billion yuan, the report revealed.