Progress in China's fight against financial speculation

China’s campaign to rein in financial risks and force banks to reduce their investments and liabilities is gaining momentum, with new data showing shadow banking activities have shrunk further since June. The banking industry’s outstanding interbank assets, including holdings of interbank certificate deposits and acceptance bills, dropped by 13.8%, or 3.2 trillion yuan ($488 million), from the end of 2016 to the end of August, data from the China Banking Regulatory Commission show. That compares with a decline of 1.8 trillion yuan at the end of June. However, the industry’s interbank liabilities fell by 1.6% in the first eight months, narrowing from a 2.3% drop in the first six months. “The data show financial institutions’ idle funds declined and the amount of funds flowing from the real economy into speculative activities has been contained, and that trend has consolidated and strengthened,” Xiao Yuanqi, director of the commission’s prudential regulation bureau, told Caixin.