China’s chief banking regulator opened the way for the country’s lenders to use debt-for-equity swaps to rid themselves of some of the $200bn of bad bank loans on their balance sheets.

中国银行业监管机构负责人为国内银行利用“债转股”移除资产负债表上2000亿美元不良贷款的一部分扫清了道路。

Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, raised the idea at the closing session of the annual meeting of parliament in Beijing, while adding it was a complex issue.

在北京举行的全国人大年度会议的闭幕会议上，中国银监会(CBRC)主席尚福林提到了这一想法，并补充称，这是一个复杂的问题。

“We are studying the plan and it’s not as simple as some reports said,” he told reporters. China’s premier Li Keqiang, who was also speaking at the parliamentary session, singled out debt-for-equity swaps as a way to “progressively reduce corporate leverage”.

他对记者们表示：“我们正在研究债转股的事情，但不像有些媒体报道得那么简单。”在人大会议闭幕后的记者会上，中国总理李克强也表示，可以通过债转股的方式“逐步降低企业的杠杆率”。

A debt-for-equity exchange would allow China’s commercial banks to swap the debt they hold in underperforming companies for stock holdings. Chinese commercial banks are prevented from investing in non-banking companies, although their subsidiaries can.

实施债转股意味着中国各商业银行可以将他们所持的表现不佳公司的债权转换成股权。这些银行不能投资于非银行企业，尽管他们的子公司可以这样做。

There are also provisions in law for banks to hold shares for up to two years in case of needing to seize collateral on failed loans. The plan has been put forward as a way of tackling the trillions of renminbi of debt that have built up in the Chinese economy as a result of decades of debt-fuelled stimulus and easy credit. This is the first time the idea has been proposed at the highest level since the bank bailouts of the early 2000s.

还有法律条款规定，银行持股应长达两年，以备需要对不良贷款的抵押品进行扣押。长期以来，债务助燃的刺激及宽松信贷使中国经济积累了数万亿人民币债务，债转股计划的提出正是为了处理这些债务。这是自本世纪头几年对银行进行纾困以来，中国最高领导层首次提出这样的想法。

Chinese banks’ bad debts stand at Rmb1.27tn ($194bn) according to official figures, although some analysts believe the real number is much higher.

官方数据显示，中国银行业不良贷款已达1.27万亿元人民币（合1940亿美元），尽管一些分析师认为，实际数字要高得多。

The idea of using debt-for-equity swaps was welcomed last week by Lai Xiaomin, chairman of Huarong Asset Management Company, the biggest of China’s asset management companies (AMCs), or bad banks.

上周，中国最大资产管理公司（AMC，即所谓“坏银行”）——华融资产管理公司(Huarong Asset Management)董事长赖小民对利用债转股的想法表示了欢迎。

Mr Lai called for Rmb1tn-Rmb3tn of AMC debt to be switched into equity, adding that AMCs should also be allowed to securitise and resell non-performing loans. Yet some analysts believe that such debt-for-equity swaps would lead to banks merely swapping bad loans for bad equity.

赖小民呼吁将资产管理公司持有的1万亿至3万亿元人民币的债权转换成股权，并表示，资产管理公司也应被允许将不良贷款证券化并转售。然而，一些分析师认为，这样进行债转股只会让银行将不良贷款转换成不良股权。

“It’s clearly a bad deal for the banks. It would move the stress from zombie companies to zombie banks,” said Chen Long, analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics, a research company.

研究公司龙洲经讯(Gavekal Dragonomics)分析师陈龙表示：“对银行而言，这显然是个馊主意。这样做将把压力从僵尸企业转移至僵尸银行。”

Larry Hu, analyst at Macquarie Securities, said it also risked “exacerbating moral hazard” by causing companies to over-borrow in the knowledge that banks would come to the rescue. Because AMCs have insufficient relationships with local governments and companies, they often struggle to collect repayment for loans, he explained.

麦格理证券(Macquarie Securities)分析师胡伟俊(Larry Hu)表示，企业还有可能会因为知道银行会施以援手而过度举债，从而“加剧道德风险”。他解释说，由于资产管理公司与地方政府及企业没有过深的交情，前者往往很难拿到还款。

Last week Huarong Energy Company, China’s largest shipbuilder and formerly known as Rongsheng, proposed settling Rmb14.1bn of bank debts with newly issued shares — a transaction that, according to local news reports, would have made Bank of China its largest shareholder with a 14 per cent stake.

上周，原名熔盛重工(Rongsheng)的中国最大造船企业——华荣能源公司(Huarong Energy Company)提议用新发行的股票来抵消141亿元人民币的银行债务。当地新闻报道称，这笔交易将使中国银行(BoC)持有华荣能源14%的股份，成为该公司最大股东。

Debt-for-equity swaps were used in China from 1999, when the government started transferring the bad debts of state-owned enterprises to the newly created AMCs.

债转股自1999年开始在中国得到使用，当时中国政府开始将国有企业的不良贷款转移至新创立的资产管理公司。