China is ramping up momentum for a series of economic reforms to be unveiled at a key Communist Party meeting expected in October, government officials and domestic media reports say. We think the moves, which are taking place largely behind the scenes, present the strongest signal yet that President Xi Jinping’s leadership may yet emerge as a more reformist and purposeful administration than that of Hu Jintao over the last decade (CC Dec 20 2012 Macro View).

A selection of key financial data over the past fortnight.

Levels of distressed assets are rising at Chinese banks despite widespread efforts to camouflage the problem, hitting banks' profits.

Economists and analysts have been assessing the likelihood and the likely impact of capital account liberalisation by the new Chinese leadership.

Underground banks saw an increase in bad debts in April, with small manufacturers and property developers posing the greatest default risks, China Confidential’s survey of 80 underground banks nationwide has found.

China’s vast shadow financing system has many constituent parts, each with a different risk profile and prospects. Overall, though, risk levels are rising.

Our in-depth, two-part evaluation of the risks posed by China’s shadow finance system concludes that should China’s GDP growth rate subside or property market slump, a host of shadow finance excesses could spark a crisis.

China’s freight volumes slowed down during the first three weeks of April both on a MoM and YoY basis, according to a China Confidential’s survey of 207 rail, road, waterway and air logistics companies across the country.