China has made continued efforts to forestall and defuse financial risks while supporting steady economic recovery, the country's top banking regulator said on Wednesday.

Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, told a press conference that local governments have reported improved hidden debt situations, with bubble signs and highly leveraged financing trends in the real estate sector fundamentally reversed, adding that "China's resilience against external risks has further improved."

Guo said some adjustments to the price of real estate and some changes in the demand-side are good for the financial industry, but the adjustment should not be too drastic, so a smooth transition is required.

Shadow banking

Guo also said the country made effective efforts to defuse risks in key financial areas.

In 2021, with threats in salient areas controlled, the macro leverage ratio decreased by about 8 percentage point. Asset expansion in the financial system, back at a comparatively low level, has reentered the single-digit range, said Guo.

Meanwhile, the country regulated a number of high-risk enterprises and financial institutions that violated laws and regulations. All Peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending institutions have ceased operations, and the outstanding loan balance has reduced to 490 billion yuan ($77.7 billion).  

In the past five years, the country investigated and handled a total of 25,000 cases of illegal fundraising, Guo said.

From 2017 to 2021, risky shadow banks were dismantled to the tune of 25 trillion yuan ($3.96 trillion), and 11.5 trillion yuan ($1.82 trillion) in the past two years alone. 

According to Guo, China's banking sector handled about 12 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) in non-performing assets during the five years, with more than 6 trillion yuan ($0.95 trillion) handled in the past two years.

Financing

Efforts have also met the reasonable and effective financing needs of the real economy and boosted the steady recovery and virtuous cycle of the economy.

With nearly 20 trillion yuan ($3.17 trillion) of new yuan loans in 2021, newly added bond investments by banking and insurance institutions totaled 7.7 trillion yuan ($1.22 trillion).

The balance of medium- and long-term loans to the manufacturing sector increased by nearly 30 percent year on year, research and technology loans by 28.9 percent, and green credit by 21 percent, Guo added.

(With input from Xinhua)