China Center Chart of the Week: The coming end of the WMP boom

This China Center members-only chart shows monthly issuance of wealth management products (WMPs) by Chinese banks in cooperation with trust companies, along with the average annualized expected return for these products. Despite July’s jump, WMP issuance looks set to resume slowing. Recent news reports have indicated that total WMP issuance fell slightly in July, by 0.84 percent month over month (the chart only depicts bank-trust co-issuance). If authorities can continue to gain control over growth in the trust sector and related WMP markets, it could mark a significant move toward re-intermediating the banking system.