China's shadow banking funds hit new high in 2013

Data released Wednesday by China’s central bank showed rapid growth in the country’s shadow banking sector in 2013, Financial Times reported. Funding from trust companies and other entities in the shadow sector rose to its highest level on record and accounted for 30% of the US$2.9 trillion (RMB17.3 trillion) in total credit issued last year, the People’s Bank of China said, up from a 23% share of aggregate financing in 2012.”This shows that financial institutions ‘off-balance sheet business is developing relatively fast and providing strong capital support to the economy,” said Sheng Songcheng, head of the PBOC’s statistical department.