The Chinese Financial System: A Development Difficult to Master

Since the 2008 Great financial crisis, the Chinese financial system, largely shaped by its « Soviet » past, has continually evolved. This has allowed China to absorb the huge amount of savings that has kept accumulating. The growth of a shadow banking system is a major feature of this evolution. It has helped enlarge existing financing channels and respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse range of borrowers and to investors seeking high returns. While useful, this largely « spontaneous » development is nevertheless a source of risks for financial stability, the more so since the amount of lending extended to non-financial agents has now reached extremely elevated levels.