When China ordered the country’s banks last Thursday to check the “systemic risk” posed by some of their acquisitive “large enterprises” (conglomerate HNA Group, insurer Anbang, consumer group Fosun and property developer Dalian Wanda), some listed companies connected to them plunged in value.

You might have expected Chinese bank stocks to tumble, too. It was, after all, the banking regulator that blew the whistle, and ordered the lenders to examine exposures to the groups whose big foreign acquisitions they have backed. Yet the share prices of China’s big banks actually rose on Thursday after the regulator’s intervention.

There may be valid reasons for that. Regulators’ concerns seem to be focused less on the banks’ balance sheets and more on their role facilitating contentious fundraisings from private investors, including through life assurance. The regulator’s probe may also be seen as part of the authorities’ efforts to curb capital outflows — and hence a political tactic rather than a concern about bank stability.