Some of China’s largest resources corporations and shipbuilders are searching for higher returns in the unregulated lending industry as their core businesses struggle with overcapacity and an overall slowdown in economic growth in the country.

中国一些最大的资源公司和造船厂在核心业务艰难应对产能过剩和国内整体经济增长放缓之际，纷纷在不受监管的贷款行业寻觅更高回报。

Analysts have flagged the rapid growth of entrusted lending among large companies, mainly state-owned miners and heavy manufacturers, as a worrying trend and a potential contributor to China’s bad-debt problem.

分析师们指出大型企业（主要是国有矿商和重型制造商）的委托放贷快速增长，他们称这是一个令人担忧的趋势，可能加剧中国的坏账问题。

“We believe that these non-financial [state-owned enterprises] do not have the expertise to operate like a bank and evaluate the creditworthiness of the lender, and it is likely that these loans would become non-performing as the economy slows further,” Chua Han Teng, an analyst at Fitch’s BMI Research, said in a report.

“我们相信，这些非金融（国有企业）不具备必要的专长，无法像银行那样经营，评价借款人的资信；随着经济进一步放缓，这些贷款很可能变成不良贷款，”惠誉(Fitch)旗下研究机构BMI Research的分析师Chua Han Teng在一份报告中表示。

Entrusted loans are loans made from one company to another, vaguely resembling the banking industry but without the risk controls that licensed lenders exercise when making credit decisions.

委托贷款是一家公司发放给另一家公司的贷款，略微类似银行业，但没有持牌贷款人在作出信贷决策时执行的风险控制。

Companies engaged in the business often lend out excess cash or borrow from banks then re-lend at much higher rates to other companies — often ones that could not get approval for banks loans in the first place.

从事这类业务的企业往往贷出过剩现金，或者从银行借款，然后以高得多的利率转手向其它公司放贷，后者往往无法从银行获得贷款。

Mining and heavy manufacturing groups have come under pressure as economic growth in China cools off. Many of those companies have sought out higher returns through financial investments as their core businesses suffer.

随着中国经济增长降温，矿业和重型制造业集团受到压力。随着它们的核心业务受到影响，许多这类企业寻求通过金融投资获得更高回报。

For example, China’s largest aluminium maker, Chalco, has been unprofitable for the past five years and recorded a return on equity of minus 1.7 per cent in 2015 but doubled its entrusted loans in 2015 to Rmb2.8bn ($422m).

例如，中国最大的铝生产商中国铝业(Chalco)在过去五年一直未能盈利，其2015年的股本回报率为-1.7%，但2015年委托贷款增加了一倍，至28亿元人民币（合4.22亿美元）。

“Some state firms still have too much cash on their balance sheet, so the game of using banks to make risky intercorporate loans goes on,” said Andrew Collier, managing director at Orient Capital Research. “China is desperate to keep the credit flowing to the politically most powerful and most desperate parts of the economy.”

“一些国有企业资产负债表上的现金仍然过多，因此利用银行进行高风险企业间贷款的游戏继续着，”Orient Capital Research的董事总经理安德鲁•科利尔(Andrew Collier)表示。“中国正在竭力保障信贷流向经济中政治上最强大、经营上最绝望的部分。”

Some large private manufacturers have also moved into entrusted lending.

一些大型民营制造商也进入委托放贷业务。

China’s largest private shipbuilder Yangzijiang Shipbuilding is among many companies in the shipbuilding industry receiving government subsidies to help keep afloat. To help weather the downturn and generate higher returns, the group has created a microfinance portfolio used for entrusted lending, according to BMI. At the end of 2015, the company’s financial investments stood at about 25 per cent of its total assets.

中国最大的民营造船企业扬子江船业(Yangzijiang Shipbuilding)是造船行业很多获得政府补贴以维持运转的企业之一。据BMI介绍，为了帮助挺过低迷时期，产生更高的回报，该集团创建了一个用于委托放贷的小额信贷投资组合。截至2015年底，该公司的金融投资占其总资产的25%左右。

The aggregate stock of entrusted loans in China hit Rmb12.06tn in June, a rise of 20.8 per cent from the year before, making it the fastest-growing segment of core shadow banking in the country. Entrusted lending has grown by 70 per cent since the start of 2014.

中国的委托贷款总存量在6月份达到12.06万亿元人民币，同比增长20.8%，使其成为中国影子银行业增长最快的领域。自2014年初以来委托放贷增长了70%。

According to a list compiled by Mr Chua, the top industry names in steel and coal, such as Baosteel and the world’s largest coal miner, China Shenhua, have also moved into the entrusted lending business.

根据惠誉Chua Han Teng编制的一份清单，钢铁和煤炭行业的大牌企业，如宝钢(Baosteel)以及全球最大煤炭企业中国神华(China Shenhua)，也进入了委托放贷业务。