China’s banking system will require an eventual bailout

[platinumdude]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-debt-woes-point-to-bank-bailout-2011-07-04

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — China’s banking system will require an eventual bailout by the central government, according to some analysts, who said figures released last week on the size of local-government borrowings point to the need for a rescue.

Credit Suisse economist Dong Tao said the numbers backed up concerns he’s been voicing for the past two years on China’s toxic loan problem.

“Ultimately, we believe that the central government will need to separate the local government’s bank debt from banks’ balance sheets and recapitalize the banks,” Tao said in a note following the release of data on China’s local-debt obligations by the National Audit Office.

The National Audit Office said on June 27 that local-government debt totaled 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.65 trillion), or about 27% of China’s 2010 gross domestic product. The total represented the tally at the end of 2010 and marked the first time the NAO had released official data on these obligations.

The audit office figure included debt directly and explicitly liable by the local governments and 6,576 financing vehicles established by the governments. Figures released by the China Banking Regulatory Commission in November, which counted local-government financing vehicles and subsidiaries, put the figure at 9.09 trillion yuan.

Tao said a government-led rescue wasn’t likely within the next 18 months, as there were few signs of an imminent crisis, although he added that recent press reports have indicated preliminary government steps towards a bailout.

Reuters reported last month that Beijing is considering a bailout that could see the central government accept to 2 trillion to 3 trillion yuan of local governments’ outstanding debt in an effort to ensure against a mass default, which could bring down the economy. See report on China’s initial bailout plans.

Stress is building within the system, Tao said, as local governments face a growing pile of debts coming due at a time of declining land sales, normally a key revenue stream for the provincial authorities.

Meanwhile, local governments are also having trouble finding new sources of lending as state-controlled banks grow increasingly wary of their deteriorating ability to service existing debt.




More at link.

[Glass]

Moody's July 4 Bomb: Rating Agency Finds 10% Of Chinese GDP Is Bad Debt, Claims "China Debt Problem Bigger Than Stated"

The timing on the earlier pronouncement that rating agencies may have found religion could not have been better. Not even an hour later, here comes Moody's with a blockbuster which may put China's "White Knight" status, at least as ar as Europe is concerned, in grave danger. In a report just released, the rating agency not only warns that China's debt problem is "bigger than stated" (i.e., China is hiding a ton of ugly stuff off the books), but goes ahead to quantify it: "Of the RMB 10.7 trillion (about $1.6 trillion) of local government debt examined by the Chinese audit agency, RMB 8.5 trillion ($1.3 trillion) was funded by banks.

However, Moody's has identified another potential RMB 3.5 trillion ($540 billion) of such loans that the Chinese auditors did not discuss in their report....we find that the Chinese audit agency could be understating banks' exposures to local governments by as much as RMB 3.5 trillion." Naturally, the implication is that this is an absolutely willing "omission" (thank you central planning), which means that of China's $5.8 trillion GDP (or whatever imaginary number the Polit Bureau is happy with throwing around for mass consumption), $540 billion is debt that is "unaccounted for", most likely due to being, well, bad. That would be equivalent to saying that $1.4 trillion of US corporate debt is delinquent. And lest anything is lost in translation, Moody's drives the steak through the Dragon's heart: " Since these loans to local governments are not covered by the NAO report, this means they are not considered by the audit agency as real claims on local governments. This indicates that these loans are most likely poorly documented and may pose the greatest risk of delinquency."

So let's get this straight: a country which has 10% of its GDP in the form of bad debt, is somehow expected to be credible enough to buy not only Greek debt, but the EURUSD each and every day? Mmmmk. In the meantime, Dagong downgrades the US to junk status in 5, 4, 3...

Full Moody's release:

"Moody's Investors Service says that the potential scale of the problem loans at Chinese banks may be closer to its stress case than its base case, according to an assessment that the rating agency conducted following the release of new data by China's National Audit Office (NAO).

When considering the apparent absence of a clear master plan to deal with this issue, Moody's also views the credit outlook for the Chinese banking system as potentially turning to negative.

"We assume that the majority of loans to local governments are of good quality, but based on our assessment of the loan classifications and risk characteristics, as provided by the NAO and other Chinese agencies, we conclude that the banks' exposure to local government borrowers is greater than we anticipated," says Yvonne Zhang, a Moody's Vice President and one of the authors of the report.

Of the RMB 10.7 trillion (about $1.6 trillion) of local government debt examined by the Chinese audit agency, RMB 8.5 trillion ($1.3 trillion) was funded by banks. However, Moody's has identified another potential RMB 3.5 trillion ($540 billion) of such loans that the Chinese auditors did not discuss in their report.

"When cross-examining the findings by the June 27 NAO report -- in conjunction with reports from Chinese banking regulators -- we find that the Chinese audit agency could be understating banks' exposures to local governments by as much as RMB 3.5 trillion," says Zhang.

"Since these loans to local governments are not covered by the NAO report, this means they are not considered by the audit agency as real claims on local governments. This indicates that these loans are most likely poorly documented and may pose the greatest risk of delinquency," the analyst adds.Full article @ zerohedge (http://www.zerohedge.com/article/moodys-july-4-bomb-rater-finds-10-chinese-gdp-bad-debt-claims-china-debt-problem-bigger-stat)

[Shami-Amourae]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riHBtUK_VHY

[Glass]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riHBtUK_VHY


Thats classic....... Imagine if your credit card made that noise everytime you took it out of your wallet

Full version - 4:18 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v--fTVAWE8&feature=related

The Irish aren't suited to money...... or skiing.... ;D