SHANGHAI - Chinese banks extended less than 600 billion yuan ($91.31 billion) in new loans in February, the China Securities Journal reported on Friday quoting industry sources.

Special Coverage: China Economy by Numbers - January Related readings:  Decline in new yuan lending in Jan  China banks ratchet up lending rates to ration credit  PBOC cuts 2011 banks' lending target

China, fearing the formation of asset bubbles and runaway inflation, has introduced several monetary tightening measures to rein in lending after a credit binge in 2009.

Chinese banks issued a combined 17.5 trillion yuan ($2.7 trillion) of new local currency loans in 2009 and 2010, almost a quarter of the economy's total output during that time.

In January, Chinese banks loaned just over 1 trillion yuan.

A source told Reuters this week that Liu Mingkang, head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said lending by Chinese banks have been excessively fast.