Chinese authorities are racing to prevent the default of a soured $500m high-yield investment trust, in a closely watched test case for the country’s shadow banking sector.
中国官方正紧急采取行动，阻止一只陷入困境的5亿美元高收益投资信托发生违约，这件事已成为中国影子银行业一起备受关注的“判例案件”。
Local media reported on Thursday that the Shanxi provincial government is considering helping fund a bailout of the trust loan after ICBC, which distributed the product through its branches, said last week it would not provide a backstop. However, Time-Weekly, a state-owned newspaper, reported that the bank – the world’s biggest by assets – and the product issuer China Credit Trust will also be asked to chip in.
据中国媒体周四报道，山西省政府正考虑帮助兑付上述信托贷款。上周，曾通过其分行销售这只信托的中国工商银行(ICBC)表示不会为该产品兜底。不过，国有的《时代周报》报道称，工行和该产品的发行者中诚信托(China Credit Trust)也将被要求参与兑付。按资产计，工行是全球最大的银行。
The Rmb3bn ($500m) loan, to a now-defunct Shanxi coal mining company, is due to be repaid on January 31. When it was packaged as a trust product and sold in 2010, it promised investors a yield of 10 per cent. However, in 2012 it became clear that the company, Zhenfu Energy, was struggling for cash after the coal sector was hit hard by Beijing’s efforts to reduce pollution levels across the country.
这笔30亿元人民币（合5亿美元）贷款的融资方是山西一家现已不存在的煤矿公司，贷款定于1月31日偿还。当它在2010年被打包成一只信托产品销售时，曾向投资者开出了10%的收益率。然而，形势在2012年逐渐变得明朗：该公司——即山西振富能源集团——资金紧张，原因是中央政府降低全国污染程度的努力使得煤炭行业受到沉重打击。
The product – a tiny slice of China’s $1.2tn trust market – was pitched to rich individuals rather than to retail punters.
作为中国1.2万亿美元信托市场的一个微小部分，该产品被推销给富裕人士，而不是普通散户。
Fearful of a default, about 20 investors in the “Credit Equals Gold No. 1” trust protested on Thursday outside the Shanghai branch of ICBC’s private bank, according to a report from Bloomberg.
据彭博社(Bloomberg)报道，由于担心发生违约，这只名为“诚至金开1号”的信托的大约20名投资者周四在工行私人银行上海分行外举行抗议。
Up to now, there have been no trust loan defaults in China, despite the enormous size of the market. In 2012, trusts overtook insurance as the second biggest financial sector in the country by assets, according to a joint report from McKinsey and Ping An. They have been a key source of funding for local government infrastructure projects, property developers and manufacturers during a prolonged period of tight liquidity within China.
截至目前，中国从未发生信托贷款违约的事件，尽管市场的规模巨大。麦肯锡(McKinsey)和中国平安(Ping An)联合发表的一份报告称，信托业在2012年已经超过保险业，成为按资产计的中国第二大金融部门。近年来随着中国国内流动性持续偏紧，信托产品成了地方政府基建项目、房地产开发商和制造业企业的关键资金来源。
Although a bailout could help soothe market nerves about the health of the trust sector, some analysts argue a default would help raise awareness of risk across the financial system. Many products have been bought on the assumption that even bad investments will ultimately somehow be made good.
虽然救助该产品可以安抚市场对信托业健康状况的紧张神经，但一些分析师主张，违约将有助于提高人们对金融体系风险的意识。许多人在购买产品时想当然地认为，即使是糟糕的投资，最终也将某种方式圆满收场。
“If they allow a default [in the sector] reasonably soon, we may see a fast market reaction and quick resolution,” said David Cui, China strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “If the government chooses to keep kicking the can down the road then the problem will keep getting worse.”
“如果他们在合理的短期内允许（该行业）发生一场违约，我们也许会看到市场做出快速反应、问题得到快速解决。”美银美林(Bank of America Merrill Lynch)中国策略师崔伟(David Cui)表示，“如果政府选择拖延问题的解决，那么问题会越来越严重。”
More signs of stress in the sector have appeared in the past three weeks. Two other coal companies that received trust money in 2012 are also struggling to repay investors, according to Chinese state media, while another shadow banking product that invested in a Chengdu housing project has failed to repay the overdue principle on its Rmb1bn loan.
最近三周，中国的信托业出现了更多承压迹象。中国官方媒体称，还有两家在2012年通过信托融资的煤炭企业在偿还投资者方面遇到困难，同时有一只投资于成都某个住房项目的影子银行产品未能偿还其10亿元人民币贷款的本金。
More than Rmb100bn of mining-related trust products are due to be repaid this year, while a large chunk of trust money has gone into property developments across the country.
今年将有超过1000亿元人民币的采矿业相关信托产品到期，另外还有大笔信托资金已流入全国各地的房地产开发项目。