Debt burden at China's small banks mounts, analysts say

Mounting credit losses may threaten China’s smaller, unlisted banks, closure of which could damage lending to the small and medium-sized enterprises tasked with driving economic growth, South China Morning Post reported, citing banking sector analysts. Credit losses have almost doubled between 2013 and 2014 and continued to mount in the first half of this year, said Standard and Poor’s analyst Qiang Liao in a recent report. Mizuho Securities analyst Jim Antos said that while growth in non-performing loans has slowed this year for the first time in years, it still remained at a staggeringly high level of 49%.