Soured loans at Chinese commercial banks rose to the highest level since June 2006 as the nation’s economic expansion slowed to the weakest pace in a quarter century.
Nonperforming loans rose 7 percent from September to 1.27 trillion yuan ($196 billion) by December, the slowest quarterly increase in two years, data from the China Banking Regulatory Commission showed Monday. Including "special-mention" loans, where future repayment is at risk but yet to become nonperforming, the industry’s total troubled loans swelled to 4.2 trillion yuan, representing 5.46 percent of total advances.
