【英语财经】分析：中国影子银行请求政府纾困 China shadow banks appeal for government bailout

The collapse of a state-owned credit guarantee company in China’s rust belt has again shone a spotlight on risk from bad debt and moral hazard in the country’s shadow banking system.

As China’s economy slows, concerns are mounting over rising defaults, especially on loans from non-bank lenders, which provide credit to risky borrowers at high interest rates.

Eleven shadow banks have written an open letter to the top Communist party official in northern China’s Hebei province, asking for a bailout that would enable the bankrupt company to backstop loans to deadbeat borrowers. If the guarantor cannot pay, it could spark defaults on at least 24 high-yielding wealth management products (WMPs).

Analysts worry that a series of bailouts in recent years have encouraged irresponsible lending by fuelling the perception the government won't tolerate default. The latest appeal for a bailout will again force officials to choose between ensuring short-term financial stability or imposing market discipline on investors, which should improve lending practices in the long term.

Hebei Financing Investment Guarantee Group has guaranteed Rmb50bn ($7.8bn) in loans from nearly 50 financial institutions, according to Caixin, a well-known financial magazine. More than half of this total is from non-bank lenders, mainly trust companies, who lent to property developers and factories in overcapacity industries

The letter appeals directly to the government’s concern about social stability and the fear of retail investors protesting the loss of “blood and sweat money”. The 11 companies sold 24 separate WMPs worth Rmb5.5bn.

“The domino effect from the successive and intersecting defaults of these trust products involves a multitude of financial institutions, an immense amount of money, and wide-ranging public interests,” 10 trust companies and a fund manager wrote to Zhao Kezhi, Hebei party secretary.

“In order to prevent this incident from inciting panic among common people and creating an unnecessary social influence, we represent more than a thousand investors, more than a thousand families, in asking for a resolution.”

Most trust products are distributed through state-owned banks, leaving unsophisticated investors with the impression the bank and ultimately the government stands behind them, even when the fine print says otherwise.

There has been a series of technical defaults on bonds and high-yield trust products in recent years, but bailouts have shielded retail investors from losses in most if not all cases, often following public protests by angry investors at bank branches.

Trust lending has exploded since 2010 amid a pullback by traditional banks. Trusts sell WMPs to investors, marketing the products as a higher-yielding alternative to traditional savings deposits. They use the proceeds for loans to real estate developers, coal miners, and manufacturers in overcapacity sectors to which banks are reluctant to lend. Trust loans outstanding rose from Rmb1.7tn in 2011 to Rmb6.9tn at the end of June.

Hebei Financing stopped paying out on all loan guarantees in January, when its chairman was replaced and another state-owned group was appointed as custodian.

Though Hebei Financing guaranteed loans underlying WMPs, the products themselves did not guarantee investors against losses. Caixin reported that several trust companies, fearing reputational damage, have used their own capital to repay investors. The 11 trusts behind the recent letter have taken a different approach, pressuring the government for a rescue.

A villa development in the suburbs of Shijiazhuang, Hebei’s largest city, is typical of the projects guaranteed by Hebei Financing. In September 2013, Shanghai Goldstate Brilliance Asset Management sold WMPs worth Rmb200m to fund the development, known as Dragon City Mountain, offering returns of up to 11.5 per cent for a two-year investment.

But as a slump in China’s real estate market slammed second-tier cities, construction on the villa project’s third phase was halted late last year when funds ran short, Economic Observer reported. That has put in jeopardy Rmb120m in payouts on maturing WMPs due next month.

Shanghai Goldstate did not respond to requests for comment.

Hebei Finance and its owner, the Hebei province State-Owned Assets Supervision Administration Commission, declined to comment.

Additional reporting by Ma Nan

中国衰败工业地带的国有信用担保企业——河北融投担保集团（Hebei Financing Investment Guarantee Group，简称河北融投）破产，再次令人关注中国影子银行体系的坏债风险和道德风险。

随着中国经济放缓，人们越来越担忧违约增加——尤其是对于非银行类放贷机构发放的贷款，这类贷款以较高的利率向高风险的借款方提供信贷。

11家影子银行向河北省委书记发出一封公开信，要求后者出手纾困，使上述破产的信用担保企业能够为多笔贷款提供最后担保，这些贷款遭到借款人拖欠。如果作为担保方的河北融投无法代偿，可能会导致至少24款高收益理财产品违约。

分析师担心，近年一系列纾困举措，助长了政府不会容忍违约的印象，从而鼓励了不负责任的放贷行为。最新的纾困请求将再次迫使官方作出一个选择：要么确保短期金融稳定，要么迫使投资者接受市场纪律的约束，长期而言这应该会改善放贷实践。

据知名财经媒体财新网(Caixin)报道，河北融投为近50家金融机构的500亿元人民币（合78亿美元）贷款提供了担保。在这一贷款总额中，逾半数来自非银行放贷机构，主要是信托公司，其放贷对象是房地产开发商和产能过剩行业的工厂。

公开信直截了当地呼吁政府关注社会稳定问题，希望政府顾虑散户投资者因损失“血汗钱”而举行抗议活动的风险。这11家影子银行共销售了24款互不关联的理财产品，价值55亿元人民币。

这11家影子银行包括10家信托公司和1家基金管理公司，它们在给河北省委书记赵克志的信中写道：“上述信托产品相继出现违约和交叉违约风险，这场多米诺骨牌式的风险牵涉金融机构之众多、资金规模之庞大、公众影响之广泛，自建国以来在金融界实属罕见，且有继续扩大、蔓延之态势，或将演变为一场严重的区域性、系统性的金融风险。”

“为了防止危机引起普通老百姓的恐慌，造成不必要的社会影响，我们代表一千多位委托人，一千多个社会家庭，与河北融投、河北省国资委相关部门就债务如何妥善解决，化解风险，维护委托人利益，维护社会的安全稳定进行了多轮对话，但是都没有取得实质性的进展。”

多数信托产品是通过国有银行分销的，这令头脑简单的投资者产生一种印象，认为这些产品有银行乃至政府充当后盾——尽管产品的条款及细则并不是这么说的。

近年中国的债券和高收益信托产品曾多次出现技术性违约。不过在多数情形下（如果不是全部的话），政府的纾困举措（往往在愤怒的投资者在银行分行举行公开抗议之后出炉）令散户投资者免于亏损。

自2010年以来，在传统银行收缩放贷之际，信托放贷呈爆炸式增长。信托公司把理财产品出售给投资者，在营销中把此类产品说成传统存款的高收益替代品。然后它们把筹款所得向银行不愿放贷的房地产开发商、煤炭企业以及产能过剩行业的制造商发放贷款。中国未清偿信托贷款的规模已从2011年的1.7万亿元人民币增至6月底的6.9万亿元人民币。

今年1月，河北融投暂停了对所有贷款担保的代偿。当时，该公司撤换了董事长，并被交由另一家国有集团托管。

尽管河北融投为这些理财产品背后的贷款提供了担保，但这些产品本身并不担保投资者不受亏损。据财新网报道，几家担心名誉受损的信托公司动用了自有资金偿付投资者。而发出公开信的11家影子银行采用了不同的方法——他们向政府施压，要求政府出手救助。

河北最大城市石家庄市郊的一个别墅开发区是河北融投担保的典型项目。2013年9月，上海金元百利资产管理有限公司(Shanghai Goldstate Brilliance Asset Management)曾通过销售价值2亿元人民币的理财产品，为这个名为龙城山湖颂(Dragon City Mountain)的楼盘提供资金。当时，该产品为两年期投资提供的回报率高达11.5%。

然而，据《经济观察网》(Economic Observer)报道，随着中国二线城市遭遇楼市不景气的巨大打击，去年晚些时候该别墅区三期工程的建设因资金短缺而停工。这危及下月到期的多个理财产品的1.2亿元人民币偿付。

上海金元百利没有回应记者的置评请求。

河北融投及其东家河北省国有资产监督管理委员会(State-Owned Assets Supervision Administration Commission)也拒绝置评此事。

Ma Nan补充报道

译者/简易