How China's Bank Behemoths Make Money on the Debt War
- Big banks may be ‘secretly happy’ with deleveraging: Bocom
- Citi likes larger bank stocks, which benefit as net lenders
China's Banks in a Leverage War
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As China ramps up its quest to conquer leverage, the banking sector is finding out that being a big fish pays -- literally.
While smaller lenders grapple with soaring money-market rates -- some are said to have defaulted amid the tight liquidity -- their larger counterparts are poised for a windfall. Bigger banks are benefiting from higher borrowing costs given their status as net lenders in the interbank market, a situation that has Citigroup Inc. to Morgan Stanley favoring their shares. Large bank stocks have already returned double that of their smaller brethren so far this year.