China's big banks more than doubled debt write-offs last year

China’s biggest banks more than doubled their bad loan write-offs in 2013, the latest indication of the turbulence now buffeting China’s financial system, Financial Times reported. The five biggest Chinese banks, which account for more than half of all loans in the country, removed US$9.5 billion (RMB59 billion) from their books in debts that could not be collected, according to their 2013 results. That was up 127% from 2012, and the highest since the banks were rescued from insolvency, recapitalized and publicly listed over the past decade.