The term “shadow banking” typically refers to the wide-ranging financial activities which occur outside of traditional banking. Shadow banking activities span every country in the world. In a survey of 26 major countries, the Financial Stability Board found that the amount of money in shadow banking equaled USD67 trillion which was more than the combined GDP of those countries. In China, shadow banking accounts for more than 20 trillion Renminbi and more than 20% of the country’s GDP. Shadow banking involves banks, non-bank financial institutions, and curb-market financiers and the events in shadow banking can have a huge, and potentially damaging, effect on the larger financial world.
Is shadow banking in China likely to become the source of the next global financial crisis or simply a little understood area of the enormous Mainland economy? Financial industry expert Joe Zhang pulls back the curtain on this sector and explains how shadow banking in China impacts the regional and world economies.
Within shadow banking, China’s microcredit industry is an area of tremendous interest for most business analysts. In Inside China’s Shadow Banking: The Next Subprime Crisis?, Joe Zhang pinpoints the areas of concern based on his experience in the field and his knowledge of the complicated rules and regulations of banking in China gathered during his years as an official of the central People’s Bank of China in Beijing.
Drawing on his time spent at UBS, as well as the work of prominent economists, Joe Zhang explains shadow banking and microcredit in China for investors, economists, laypeople, and the general public.
Recommendation
Mr Zhang's book is marketed to people who suspect that systemic dangers lurk in these shadows. --Simon Cox, The Economist
"Inside China s Shadow Banking" has hit shelves just as concerns about the country's runaway credit boom are capturing global headlines. --Peter Thal Larsen, Thomson Reuters
One of those who has helped shed a little light among the shadows is Joe Zhang, author of "Inside China's Shadow Banking: The Next Subprime Crisis". --Dinny McMahon, Wall Street Journal
Now, two years on, he has written a book about his time at Wansui, entitled Inside China's Shadow Banking. His experiences are both illuminating and depressing. "Negative real interest rates and runaway credit growth have reinforced each other," he concludes, "creating the biggest credit bubble on the planet." --Tom Holland, South China Morning Post
Content Highlights
1. Provides an overview of China’s Shadow Banking industry
2. Reveals the secrets of microfinance in China
3. Serves as a personal history of a leading figure in the banking worlds of China and the West
4. Details the inner workings of a part of the financial world that may be the next economic crisis point
About the Author
Joe Zhang is an independent corporate advisor based in Hong Kong. Previously he was Chairman of Wansui Micro Credit Company. He was named "A Microcredit Person of the Year" in 2012 by the Microcredit Association of China. He worked for 11 years at UBS, mainly as Head of China Research and then Deputy Head of its China Investment Banking Division. 1986-89, he served in the Central People's Bank of China. 2006-08, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Shenzhen Investment Limited.
