Another China Shadow Bank Seeks State Help As Trust Sector Reels

China's state-owned AVIC Trust Co. is seeking assistance from two of its peers after delaying payments on some of its investment products, a sign of worsening problems in the country's $3.7 trillion trust industry. 

The closely held trust company said in a statement late Friday that it has entered into a service agreement with CCB Trust Co. and SDIC Taikang Trust Co. The two state-owned financial institutions will handle AVIC Trust's daily operations and management, and its outstanding claims and debts will remain unchanged, it said. 

The custody arrangement is another troubling development for China's sprawling trust sector, which has had a series of defaults and collapses in the past few years amid an unrelenting property crisis. Rival Zhongrong International Trust Co. — formerly one of China's largest shadow banks — also issued a statement in 2023 saying it has entered into a service agreement with CCB Trust and another state-backed financial firm after reportedly missing payments on numerous wealth products. 

Zhongrong is now facing liquidation after its two custodians concluded the firm is insolvent, Bloomberg reported last week. AVIC Trust is the first state-owned trust company to be placed in custody since China's Trust Law took effect in 2001, according to local media reports.

The company was founded in 2009 in Nanchang in China's Jiangxi province, and is controlled by the Aviation Industry Corp. of China. The regulated non-bank financial institution oversees various capital trusts, property and real estate trusts and investment funds, and has more than 600 billion yuan ($82 billion) in assets under management, according to its website. Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. had a 15.6% stake in AVIC Trust as of end-2023, according to the Chinese firm's annual report. 

Delayed Payments

Signs of stress at AVIC Trust emerged in the past few years. Some listed companies, including Baida Group Co. and Anker Innovations Technology Co., that had invested in its trust products disclosed in previous years that payments were delayed.

In late March, AVIC Industry-Finance Holdings Co., a Shanghai-listed commercial finance company that lists AVIC Trust as one of its units, said in a stock-exchange filing that there were “grave uncertainties” in its operations. Trading in its shares has been suspended, and the company intends to delist. 

Yu Yao, founder of Shenzhen-based credit research firm Ratingdog, estimates that AVIC Trust has delayed payments or defaulted on at least 20 billion yuan worth of products. Retail investors of defaulted trust products have typically recovered 40% to 80% of their investments, Yao added, citing observations of earlier cases of trust firms in custody. 

China's trust industry, which has been around for decades, combines characteristics of commercial and investment banking, private equity and wealth management. Trust companies, which typically take deposits from rich individuals and companies to invest in various assets, were a major funding channel for real estate projects during the property boom, and many raised money by issuing high-yield products with implicit return guarantees. 

The trust sector has been reeling from the nation's protracted property crisis and crackdown on leverage. New China Trust Co. was declared bankrupt in 2023 after three years of rescue efforts failed. Regulators approved Sichuan Trust Co.'s bankruptcy application last year.

Chinese authorities this year pledged to bring risks in the sector under control by 2029. They recently revised rules to lay out bankruptcy proceedings, seeking to maintain financial stability amid an economic slowdown and an escalating trade war with the US.