Shadow banking borrowers move into China's bond markets

New corporate bond issuance rose to RMB914 billion (US$143 billion) in the third quarter, accounting for 29% of all new credit and up from RMB381 billion yuan and just 8% in the first quarter, Reuters reported. Of the 57 firms posting bond listing announcements in Shanghai in October, 23 were local-government-owned project or infrastructure investment firms. Data from CN Benefit, a research firm tracking wealth management sales, shows that 60% of new bank wealth-management products (WMPs) were linked to debt and money market instruments in September, up from less than half in the first quarter. Investors, however, assume that products offered by big names are relatively safe.