China’s vast development bank has begun asking some international clients to postpone drawing down previously committed credit lines, in moves that highlight how strains on the country’s financial system are reverberating abroad.
Regulators in China have been trying to rein in rapid credit growth by making it harder for banks to move assets off their balance sheets, and by pushing up the cost of borrowing in the money market.
This crackdown has been aimed in large part at the country’s shadow banks – lightly regulated lending institutions that serve risky clients. But the impact has been felt throughout the financial sector, even hurting China Development Bank, a lender fully owned by the state.