Sir, Your editorial “China's banks return to old ways” (August 2) criticises China's banks on the grounds that “they face default on Rmb1,550bn [$229bn] of loans indirectly made to local governments – one-fifth of the total lent. These figures are a sobering reminder that, for all the progress made in recent years, the transformation of the Chinese banking sector is still far from complete ... As it happens, the banks appear to have got off relatively lightly ... That should not distract from the fact that a sectoral default rate of 20 per cent is devastating for any profit-driven bank.”
貴報在8月2日的社評「中國銀行業別走回頭路」中批評了中國銀行業，理由是「根據上週披露的數據，在他們間接發放給地方政府的7.77兆元人民幣貸款中，有五分之一，即1.55兆元貸款存在違約風險。這些數字讓人清醒，說明中國銀行業的轉型近年來雖取得了進展，但仍遠未完成……事實上，銀行似乎輕輕巧巧就躲過了一劫……但是別忘了，對任何一家以盈利爲目的的銀行來說，20%的行業違約率都是毀滅性的。」