China’s banks look to unload more than US$8.2b in bad credit-card loans

The pace of disposal efforts has accelerated since July, coinciding with the country’s slowing economy China’s commercial banks have stepped up efforts to dispose of non-performing credit-card loans, putting billions of yuan in troubled consumer debt up for sale as lenders seek to clean up balance sheets amid rising bad loans and shrinking interest margins. About 130 notices seeking buyers for bulk transfers of non-performing credit-card loans have been disclosed on the Banking Credit Asset Registration and Circulation Centre so far this year, involving more than 55 billion yuan (US$8.2 billion). The rise in transfers comes as lenders face mounting asset-quality and profitability pressures as the world’s second largest economy slows. National gross domestic product growth dropped to 4.3 per cent in the second quarter from 5 per cent in the first quarter. The pace of disposals has accelerated since July. Major lenders announced 20 credit-card non-performing loan disposal projects between July 2 and August 5, involving total claims of about 20.9 billion yuan. Banks involved included China Everbright Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Ping An Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of China.

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