Chanos Says More Stresses Apparent at 'Loaned Up' Chinese Banks
- Loan-to-deposit ratios are in mid-80 percent range: Chanos
- Hedge fund manager comments on sidelines of SALT conference
Jim Chanos.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Stresses in China’s banking system are becoming more apparent amid the mounting pile of credit extended by the nation’s lenders, according to Jim Chanos, the hedge fund manager who predicted the 2001 collapse of Enron Corp.
Loans in China’s banking system had risen to the mid-80 percent range of deposits, compared with the government’s previously mandated ceiling of 75 percent, Chanos told reporters on the sidelines of the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas on Thursday. That has put stress on banks’ funding, leading them to resort to wealth-management products, said the short seller, who has warned about Chinese debt before.