Mumbai: Seven listed Chinese banks together hold $721 million in the failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers as of Monday, Chinese media reports said.

These include $191.4 million at China Construction Bank (CCB), $151.8 million at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), $128.8 million at the Bank of China (BOC), $76 million at the CITIC Bank, $70 million at the China Merchants Bank, $70.02 million at the Bank of Communication and $33.6 million at the Industrial Bank.
 
China Construction Bank, the country's second-largest lender by assets, said in a statement that it holds $191.4 million in Lehman bonds - 0.29 per cent of its net assets - the biggest exposure reported so far for a Chinese bank in the failed US investment bank.

China's biggest lender, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, said it owns Lehman bonds worth $151.8 million.

Other reported holding of Lehman debt by state-owned banks account for only a tiny fraction of their assets. Analysts said the impact of Lehman's failure on Chinese banks would be limited.

Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao, however, warned the global financial turmoil may get worse and pledged more flexible policies to boost economic growth.

''The international financial turmoil and the slowdown in the world's economy could worsen, and we cannot underestimate the impact of these changes on the national economy,'' the report quoted Wen as saying.

''We should improve the effectiveness, focus and flexibility of macro control measures'', he said.

China's economy grew at 11.9 per cent last year, and government's efforts at cooling the economy have seen growth slow to 10.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year.

China has also succeeded in bringing the consumer price inflation down to 4.9 per cent in August, the four successive months from a 8.7 per cent in February.