More local governments allowed to operate asset management firms

The The China Banking Regulatory Commission has granted the regions of Ningxia and Guangxi licenses to operate asset management companies that can buy up and restructure bad debt, bringing the total of licensed provincial bad-debt handlers to 15 in the year or so since licensing began, South China Morning Post reported. Industry figures said the latest such issuances in China’s West and Southwest showed the widening scope of the bad-debt burden that banks and local governments shoulder heading into the second half of 2015. “It’s a sign that asset deterioration has spread from the coast,” said Wilson Pang, a partner in KPMG China’s restructuring practice.