Economics

Debt Is Roaring Back in China

  • Bank loans, trust issuance, margin trading have all surged
  • While markets cheer, some worry about financial stability risk
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
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For almost two years, the question has lingered over China’s market-roiling crackdown on financial leverage: How much pain can the country’s policy makers stomach?

Evidence is mounting that their limit has been reached. From bank loans to trust-product issuance to margin-trading accounts at stock brokerages, leverage in China is rising nearly everywhere you look.