China Chart Pack PBOC steps up policy support Sunday’s cut to the required reserve ratio for China’s banks signals a stepping-up of policy support. The 100bp cut was double the usual size and the first move on this scale since late 2008. It is... 20th April 2015 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Policymakers strike sanguine note If there is one key message on the economy to take away from the National People’s Congress it is that the government is aware of downside risks to growth but confident that it has the tools and the... 17th March 2015 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack New evidence of PBOC intervention to support renminbi Data for January showed Chinese banks continuing to sell FX to the non-bank sector last month. This has a few implications. First, the fact that banks were net sellers despite a record trade surplus... 17th February 2015 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Renminbi strength puts exporters under pressure China’s exporters continued to gain global market share last year but the recent sharp rise in the renminbi against other emerging market currencies is likely to put them under pressure in 2015. US... 27th January 2015 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Rate surge puts PBOC in a bind Interbank interest rates this week recorded their biggest increase in several months. The rate increase is much smaller than at this time last year but a key difference is that the People’s Bank cut... 19th December 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack PBOC may be resuming FX intervention There are tentative signs that the People’s Bank (PBOC) has resumed currency intervention. Foreign exchange purchases by all financial institutions, a proxy for purchases by the PBOC, turned positive... 27th November 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Bank lending under pressure from new deposit rules New rules requiring banks to ensure that deposits at the end of each month deviate by no more than 3% from the monthly average are a new headwind for China’s economy. The rules are designed to prevent... 30th October 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack More targeted support for small firms Although liquidity operations by the PBOC have received the most attention this week, further measures to support small firms that were announced by the State Council on Wednesday are arguably more... 18th September 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Constraints on banks, not demand, behind loan slump A record RMB2.0trn fall in bank deposits in July, which put pressure on banks’ loan-to-deposit ratios (LDRs), appears to have been the main factor behind last month’s weakness in lending. LDRs are a... 19th August 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Mixed ownership no guarantee of stronger performance Six state-owned firms were named last week to take part in pilot reforms intended to boost state sector performance, partly by encouraging private investment. The experiment could have far-reaching... 21st July 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack FX accumulation by firms allows PBOC to step back The People’s Bank (PBOC) further reduced its foreign exchange purchases to around $6bn in May, the lowest in almost a year. Given last month’s large trade surplus, this might suggest that capital... 18th June 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack NPL ratio remains low but is set to climb Rising non-performing loans (NPLs) at Chinese banks have been making headlines recently. So far the increase has not been much to get excited about. Official data suggest the NPL ratio has barely... 21st May 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Oversupply weighs on property sector The outlook for China’s property sector is increasingly gloomy. The usual rebound in sales after Chinese New Year has been feeble, and the glut of unsold properties on developers’ books continues to... 24th April 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Hand of People’s Bank seen in currency fall A rare trade deficit in February relieved some of the upward pressure on therenminbi, but the latest data suggest that the People’s Bank (PBOC) additionally purchased around $25bn of foreign exchange... 19th March 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack No shift of monetary stance January’s surge in bank lending in China does not signal any change in policy stance. Bank lending is always strong in January. Looked at in y/y terms, last month’s increase in loan growth was barely... 18th February 2014 · 1 min read
China Chart Pack Credit risks remain high Worries about the health of China’s financial sector have been eased by today’s news that a high-profile default has been avoided on a troubled RMB3bn trust product (“Credit Equals Gold No. 1”). In... 27th January 2014 · 1 min read