中国银监会主席警示城商行风险

China’s banking commissioner has warned the country’s city banks over the hidden credit risks related to the mid-tier lenders’ aggressive push into investment products.

中国银行业监督管理委员会(CBRC)主席警告国内城市商业银行，这些中型银行大举进军投资产品带来隐藏的信贷风险。

City commercial banks — the fastest growing segment of China’s banking industry — have been flagged by analysts as a potential hotspot for stress in the financial system.

城市商业银行是中国银行业增长最快的部分；分析师们已指出，这些银行是金融体系的潜在压力热点。

For some of the lenders, the rate at which they have invested in opaque financial products has outpaced growth in traditional lending.

某些银行投资于不透明金融产品的速度超过了传统的放贷增长。

Other municipal banks have suffered fraud cases that have left holes in their balance sheets.

其他一些城市商业银行遭遇欺诈案件，使他们的资产负债表受到损失。

The banks must reverse the trend in which investments have surpassed lending, Shang Fulin, the head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, warned a meeting of city lenders in southern China, noting that complex, highly leveraged products had led to the global financial crisis.

中国银监会主席尚福林在南方出席城市商业银行年会时警告称，各银行必须扭转投资超过放贷的趋势，他指出，当年正是复杂的高杠杆产品导致了全球金融危机。

The rapid development of these businesses actually signals a hidden credit risk that could influence financial stability, Mr Shang said, according to a transcript of the speech.

这些业务的快速发展，实际上意味着隐藏的信贷风险，可能会影响金融安全，尚福林表示（根据讲话稿）。

China’s banking system is beset with bad debt.

中国的银行体系受到坏账困扰。

While the official non-performing loan ratio remains below 2 per cent, many analysts have suggested that the true figure is nearly 10 times that rate.

尽管官方的不良贷款率保持在2%以下，但许多分析师提出，实际数字是这一水平的近10倍。

At the same time, profit growth has stalled or fallen at many lenders as they step up write-offs for bad debt.

与此同时，随着许多银行加大注销坏账力度，他们的利润增长陷入停滞，甚至下降。

The distress has been magnified at many city banks.

困境在许多城市商业银行被放大。

Growth in pre-tax profit for 2015 fell more than 90 per cent year-on-year at Bank of Dalian, a city commercial bank based in China’s north-east, according to a report from UBS.

瑞银(UBS)一份报告称，中国东北城市大连的城市商业银行——大连银行(Bank of Dalian) 2015年税前利润增长同比下滑90%以上。

A handful of other similar banks saw profit growth decline at least 30 per cent compared with the previous year.

另外好几家类似银行的利润增速也至少同比下降30%。

Over the same period, the same banks have ramped up risky investments in an attempt to underpin growth.

与此同时，这些银行加大了高风险投资，以求支撑增长。

Bank of Ningbo, based in a city on China’s eastern coast, had invested about 30 per cent of its total assets in other banks’ wealth management products (WMPs) by the end of 2015, according to data from BMI Research.

BMI Research的数据显示，位于华东沿海的宁波银行(Bank of Ningbo)截至2015年底将大约30%的总资产投资于其他银行的理财产品(WMP)。

At a time when there is an increasing lack of profitable opportunities for Chinese banks, they have been partially relying on WMPs (both investing in them and earning commission fees) in an attempt to support earnings, according to the BMI report.

随着中国各银行越来越缺乏盈利机会，他们已在一定程度上依赖理财产品（包括投资于此类产品和赚取佣金两方面）以求支撑盈利，BMI的报告称。

Investment receivables or debt receivables, which are structured to appear as holdings of investment products issued by third parties but are often based on loans that originate at the bank that claims them as receivables, have jumped in recent years.

应收款项类投资，即债务应收款项（在结构上貌似由第三方发行的投资产品，但往往是基于声称它们是应收款项的银行所发的贷款）近年来猛增。

According to an analysis of 103 Chinese banks by Wigram Capital Advisors, those investments have increased 63 per cent to Rmb14tn ($2.16tn) last year, equivalent to 16.5 per cent of total formal lending.

Wigram Capital Advisors对中国103家银行进行的分析显示，去年此类投资增长63%，至14万亿元人民币（合2.16万亿美元），相当于正规贷款总额的16.5%。

Total assets at city commercial banks grew 24 per cent year-on-year in July, according to the banking regulator — much faster than joint stock banks or national state banks.

中国银监会数据显示，城市商业银行的总资产在7月同比增长24%，远远快于股份制银行或全国性的国有银行。