Analysis

China’s nonperforming loan (NPL) market is notoriously opaque. There is no official data that tracks changes in investor demand for bad loans or the price at which banks and asset management companies (AMCs) are able to dispose of them. What little insight we have comes from the local Chinese press, where reports are sporadic, anecdotal, and lag behind real-time developments.… READ MORE

When bad loans were first auctioned on Taobao—Alibaba’s e-commerce platform—foreign observers were generally incredulous, chalking it up as the sort of Chinese-style financial innovation that would either not catch on or, if it did, would quickly flame out. More recently, when three Boeing 747s[1] and, separately, a skyscraper[2] were auctioned on Taobao after being seized from delinquent debtors, the media… READ MORE

Financial asset exchanges are a distinctly Chinese type of financial institution. There are dozens of financial asset exchanges operating around the country as electronic auction houses and online fundraising platforms. They operate as a place where equity in state and private companies that are not listed on a stock exchange can be marketed and auctioned openly. They’re used by leasing… READ MORE