Some of China’s biggest lenders are trying to raise at least US$29 billion in bonds this month to shore up capital as profits slide and bad debt balloons. Banks are being enlisted by the government to provide cheap loans to millions of businesses and consumers struggling with the fallout of the pandemic, triggering the worst earnings slump in a decade.
A massive push by China’s biggest banks to boost capital amid the worst downturn in at least a decade faltered out of the gate.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. slashed a planned bond sale of the riskiest type of debt by more than a third, raising only US$2.9 billion ($3.93 billion) in dollar-denominated bonds out of a planned US$4.4 billion.
