China increases efforts to fight finance sector risk

China is stepping up efforts to rein in risks in the financial sector, curbing banks’ use of complex financial products and resisting lobbying to relax the rules governing bad-loan buffers, according to Bloomberg. China’s banking regulator is pushing back against requests from the country’s largest banks to reduce the 150% minimum ratio for bad-loan provisions, a move that is likely to curb their profits, people familiar with the matter said Thursday. Banks whose ratios are already below that level are being urged by the China Banking Regulatory Commission to take steps to restore their buffers, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private information.